Boredom and the Spiritual Life

I relish writers and speakers who are honest about the spiritual life. In his book, Crossing, Mark Barrett writes, "Boredom is one of the many inevitable obstacles we meet on the spiritual path." (page 2.) Thank you! I'm often bored with my prayers, worship, Bible reading, Eucharist, etc. Sometimes it feels like I go through my spiritual disciplines with one eye of the clock so I can "get my spiritual ticket punched." When I confess this boredom, I have a fear that others will interpret this as my not having a strong faith or a proper relationship with God or lack of personal discipline or whatever. I think otherwise. It is because of my faith and relationship with God that I can be honest with God. I trust God and believe God already knows that I'm bored. So who am I trying to fool when I refuse to recognize my boredom? Even as I confess to a time of boredom, I don't have a three step prescription for remedy. The only thing I know to do is to keep showing up and being honest. I suspect my relationship with God has more to do with my being honest in this spiritual journey than anything else.