I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July weekend. Perhaps you were able to relax from the frenetic pace that describes our lives. Arthur Brooks has been on my radio program many times. He recently talked about the fact that “You need to be bored.”

The Harvard professor and best-selling author knows something about this, since his latest research focused on human happiness. Boredom, he argues, it not something to avoid. It is necessary for human flourishing. Sadly, most of us even cultivate habits to keep from being bored.

A Harvard study from several years ago discovered that many people prefer pain to boredom. When they placed people in a room with nothing to do, many would push a button that would deliver an electric shock. They chose pain over boredom.

When we aren’t occupied, our brain switches over to what Brooks calls the default mode network. Unfortunately, our phones and our desire to be entertained means we don’t switch over to that brain function very often.

It is time for us to recover the value of being silent and waiting on the Lord. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 62:5 says, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.”

Another value of boredom is creativity. I have done Bible studies with people who have come up with creative ideas and inventions. Nearly all of them said the ideas came to them when their brain was in neutral (when they were showering, shaving, putting on makeup, or driving).

Arthur Brooks is right. We don’t need distraction to prevent boredom. Instead, we need to take a Sabbath rest from our screens and busy lives.