Busybodies and Busyness

A busybody isn’t a busy person. It’s a person who gets involved in things that don’t concern them, meddling in other people’s affairs. But as the apostle Paul warns the Thessalonians, if we don’t intentionally focus on our priorities and responsibilities, we can be very busy without being productive:

When we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

The Greek word translated “busybodies” in this passage is periergazomai (περιεργάζομαι), which means literally “working all around.” It refers to a person who’s doing a lot of low-value activities, stepping beyond proper boundaries, fixating on what other people are doing instead of focusing on what they are supposed to be doing.

These people aren’t low-energy, but the energy they spend is largely wasted. Ironically, they probably need to slow down a little, discipline themselves, and accomplish fewer, more important goals.

Isaiah asked his people why they were working so frantically, when the Lord was offering them so much with so little effort on their part:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Isaiah 55:1-2

The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob paraphrased this passage, turning Isaiah’s rhetorical questions into a set of admonitions: “Do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy…. Come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness” (2 Nephi 9:51).

There’s a kind of malnutrition that comes from eating large quantities of junk. There’s a kind of ignorance that comes from reading large quantities of nonsense. And there’s a kind of laziness that involves working very hard at useless activities.

Two examples that come to my mind are news and social media. Of course we need to be aware of what’s going on in the world and what’s happening to our friends, but the temptation is strong to continue looking for information long after we’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. The probability is low that the next article or post will give us something we crucially need to know in order to fulfill our responsibilities today. Instead, we are in danger of becoming hyper-focused on someone else’s goals and achievements to the detriment of our own.

Today, I will intentionally spend time on fewer, higher-priority activities. I will resist the temptation to become a busybody, hyperfocused on other people’s responsibilities while neglecting my own. I will follow Paul’s counsel to work “with quietness” and to eat my own bread.