WHAT A WASTE OF TIME

     It's been called the "Boob Tube" and "the idiot box." I even heard one Pastor named David Wilkerson call it "the one eyed devil." Americans spend on an average 3 hours per day watching it. During the pandemic that average was much higher. Where we can easily be outside playing sports, going for a walk, doing a cool hobby or even spending quality time with friends or a loved one, we instead sit in front of this "box" or flat-screen television watching old shows, movies, Netflix, DVD's or sports. We binge watch the latest popular shows or re-watch something we "DVR'd" from last month.If you know me you know that I love old TV shows. Lines from The Honeymooners come out of my mouth almost every single day. As a kid I loved The Little Rascals and watched reruns of I Dream of Jeannie, Mr. Ed and The Munsters. Friday nights as an 8 year old I would watch The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family with my family all the time. 

     This past month I have to admit, I have been very convicted of one thing. I do spend A LOT of time watching television! I'm not going to say my TV is on 24/7 but when I walk in my room I will admit I grab my remote and turn my flat-screen on. I won this TV in a raffle at my job a year and a half ago. My landlady decided to no longer use cable so now I watch Hulu, Roku, Pluto TV and YouTube. I was enjoying watching old shows like Columbo, Charlie's Angels, S.W.A.T. and Three's Company. All are great classic shows but I noticed a pattern within myself....this was taking up a lot of my time. On July 14th when I was having my quiet time with the Lord, I heard Him tell me in His still small voice "You need to turn your TV off for a month." I said "Okay Lord, July 31st will be my last day and I will start it on August 1st!" "NO! he said "Start right now!" So on July 15th when I woke up for work I DID NOT turn my TV on. In fact, it has been off ever since. My remote is on top of my wall clock and I do not plan on using my remote for another month. This has given me opportunity for much needed time to read, pray, write and most importantly hear God's voice. I am writing an idea I have for a children's book and catching up on some reading assignments I have for work.

     Please know I am not saying TV is evil and we should all throw it in the garbage. What I am saying is time is very important and many times it really is a waste of time sitting in front of your television. You can't sit around the TV anymore with your kids without some type of "sexual innuendo" being thrown at you....at 8:00 at night on CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox!! The days of Leave it to Beaver are long gone. In that show kids respected adults.In today's shows, kids are extremely disrespectful and many shows depict parents as being complete idiots! I am enjoying my time away from TV and instead of wasting time I am making the most of it.