Isaiah 30:15--"...in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength..."
My quiet place of yesterday was overtaken by a noisemaker today. Yesterday as I sat in a quiet area enjoying the peaceful beauty of a waterfall fountain, I had no idea what was hidden in that fountain. Would you believe there's a television hiding in the waterfall? Yes, there is. Fortunately yesterday, when I enjoyed the peacefulness of that spot the television wasn't working, but apparently it has been fixed.
It's kind of like a lurking enemy infiltrating the space that seems safe. So now I sit in my comfy hotel room with a view of an orange grove which is peaceful. I know television isn't the enemy, but we've been weaned off television for several months now. For years, we had considered throwing out our television, but honestly the lure of the great deal we had on DirecTV kept us from doing it. I mean, we only paid about twelve dollars a month for our service (we've had friends try to get the same deal all to be told they don't do that, but when we called to cancel our service once, we were told if we stayed with them we could get just the family pack, that's the story of our great deal). We held on to t.v. because of the "great deal" knowing once we let it go we couldn't get it back. Looking back, we think why did we even care about that.
We had a strong conviction about what we allowed our kids to see, but just having the t.v. on sometimes invited the enemy's lures right into our living room. After seeing our oldest turn his head when certain commercials would come on, commercials that lure young men, just commercials...the kids weren't even allowed to watch shows that contained overtly inappropriate material...this was just commercials. Our own son showed us what was really happening by keeping that media box in our home. We were teaching them His way and telling them His Words, but then we opened the door to the enemy, allowing him to openly throw lures in the very quiet spot of our space together. So out went the television. I'm so thankful for those around us who had modeled this for us, seeing the leadership of others makes it a little easier to take the plunge.
We took the plunge in the midst of season finales. Some shows we had allowed in our home were interrupted by us using our t.v. for target shooting with husband's friend one day. Hearing and seeing the glass explode and the smoke was pretty cool for the little guys although there was one in the house who was unhappy knowing she would not see the next American Idol cheered on t.v. (Yes, we had allowed that show.) But we set out to fill the void, having learned that we always offer something positive to fill a space when we remove something from their lives. Life without the noisemaker? Hmmm....we spend more time talking about everything...we learned how to communicate with people we had lost contact with...we started studying Scriptures together as a family more...we've played more with each other...a couple of us have started blogs to share about Him...we've prayed together more...we've all read and written more...the best thing has probably been the forced quiet. The forced quiet would be the times whereas before when Dad or I were alone and might turn on the t.v. just for the noise or company, now we can't and we are left with quiet. Quiet can be unsettling until you learn what to do with it. When there is no distract-er in the house, we find ourselves reaching for more of His Words while we sit in the cozy chair or turning on the praise till it can be heard throughout the house. Or just meditating on Words studied in the past, ruminating, then slipping into a conversation with Him about what He wants us to learn.
We were never addicts. We monitored the watching. Even when we had one, we still spent time together. But it's absence is glorious. Even as football season starts and my fellas sometimes disappear next door to catch a glimpse of a touchdown or two, I don't want it back. A lot has happened for our family since we let the t.v. go. Preach and I have both come to a greater understanding of just how short our lives are here. We don't want to waste the little time we have. Our children have only a little time too and we want them to learn to fill their time with what's profitable for Him.
Struggles have come too. The enemy throws lures in new directions when his other source has been turned off. He's desperate, but God is almighty and has no equal foe so I cling to my Source Who keeps me.
Isaiah 32:18--"And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."
Angel--I'm soooo glad you wrote this post!! I've been waiting for you to get home to church so I could tell you that we unplugged our one and only tv on Monday! Just as others modeled that for your family, your family has modeled that for us! We have felt the conviction for weeks to unplug permantely, especially after reading one of your very first posts about getting rid of your tv, (we've fasted before from tv but have always gone back) and on Monday, Hayden said "can we get rid of the tv?" Like you, we've always monitored and we've never allowed tv's in the bedrooms. But when your 15 year old son asks you to unplug, you do it. No more excuses for us to keep it. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you, love you bunches and I hope you & Preach had a glorious time together!
ReplyDeleteI, too, thank you for this post. There is just simply TOO much t.v. going on in homes. It's used as a pacifer, an entertainer, a time-filler and a distraction for children. There are so many other things that could fill our time, just as you have found out.
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of Jake AND Hayden, for being men enough to stand up to the truth and realize for themselves the negativity of it all.
Your family is such a blessing and encouragement to me and to all of us Angel. Thank you for raising such fine and sharpened arrows! THEY are the future of our church!