Farewell, Television...

So we have officially gone five months without a TV in our home. Well, the TV is still there but its not hooked up to anything except our trusty VCR.

Now, rewind five months….

As my husband and I discussed the pros and cons of having television, we realized this would mean no more American Idol. No more Top Chef or HGTV or Outdoor Channel. No more…cartoons. GASP! What would we do without a TV? Well, we decided, we’d save a lot of money each month. We did the math, in four years it would be several thousand dollars. I can’t think of a single hour that I've spent watching TV that changed my life. I can’t get a single one of those hours back. And if I reached the end of my life and was given the opportunity to have all that time back, I would take it in a heartbeat.

I remember sitting there watching one of my favorite shows and thinking, what am I doing? If there had been a mirror right there, know what I would have seen? Me, sitting on the couch without moving, staring at the box across from me. Wow. Impressive.

We saw this as our chance. Not only to unplug, but to spend more time as a family. More time getting real stuff done and living life instead of watching others do it. 

Our routine has been to let the kids watch about ½ an hour a day, while missing some days all together. No TV, no problem. We’ve got plenty of good videos for the kids and the library provides extra variety. Plus, there's just way too many fun things to fill up a kid's day than cartoons. Now when the kids go down to bed at eight, instead of one of us plopping on the couch and choosing something off the DVR, my husband and I turn to each other and one of us always asks, “What do you want to do tonight?”

And we hang out.

We talk. Sometimes we both have projects to keep us busy. Sometimes we watch a movie. My new favorite thing we do is read aloud to each other. I love falling asleep to the sound of my husband reading to me from one of his books, or better yet, his Bible. And the other night, I read a couple pages from Thunder Dog and my husband laid there, listening to the real life account of escapees in a stairwell in the World Trade Center.

Of course we could have been watching Lady Gaga do something life-changing on American Idol…tempting, but I think we’ll stick with what we’ve got!

The Pages of My Journal

I keep a journal. I've kept one for as long as I can remember...all the way back to that little book with the gold colored lock and tiny key I kept hidden away in my room when I was a girl.

I've saved every journal I've ever filled. Now, the one sitting on my dresser contains memories from my first son's birth and then my daughter's and everything in between. I've taped memories inside: ticket stubs from a special date with my husband, the little greeting card that came with a gift of flowers from an illness, tracings of my son's feet and hands when he sat with me one night, watching me scribble away. With a broken heart, I've torn pages out of my journal and watched days best forgotten scatter like the wind. It is a record of my life. The good moments. The everyday memories that I couldn't risk forgetting. The not so good.

Every so often, I flip back through my journal and remember where the adventures of life began. I did just this last night. And each time, it nearly takes my breath away. I am once again awed by God's steadfastness in every area of my life. My journal has been a journey of faith. Through ups and downs, I continually see the same thing repeated; God is in control. And each time I scribble that phrase, or its many variations, I know--I believe--that pages and pages down the road of life, I will flip back and think to myself, Yes, He certainly was!

Character Quality: Meek

In the age of pop culture where spunky go-getters are incredibly popular, I am still a fan of the meek woman. I think many of us when confronted with that odd little word have the simple reaction of substituting the "M" for a "W."

But there is a great difference between a woman who is weak and one who is meek. Allow me to explain.

You're looking at the very pretty Hattie Morahan who plays Elinor Dashwood in the BBC series Sense and Sensibility. I know, you've heard it from me before but its one of my favorite movies. This is why...

Elinor was meek.

The bible calls those who are meek blessed. (Matthew 5)

It does not say passive.
It does not say pitiful.
It does not say doormat

It says blessed.

In Sense and Sensibility. Elinor Dashwood loved a man. Her sister Marianne also loved a man. Both sisters loved and lost. Yet one embraced the realization with meekness and a humble spirit, no doubt relying on the truth that her fate was in the hands of the One who created her. The other stitched her heart to her sleeve, parading her distress for all to see and feel and was so self-consumed with her own misery, that she forgot anyone else existed in the world.

It isn't until the end of the story that Marianne speaks to her older sister about her regrets of her relationship with the wretched Mr. Willoubhy whom she nearly married.

Elinor asks, "Do you compare your conduct to his?"

Marianne replies, "No. I compare it with what it ought to have been; I compare it with yours."

There is something attractive about a woman who is meek. Though she is not loud in her ways, she accomplishes much. She is a safe haven for the hurting. A glow to those who are lost. A warmth of understanding and maturity. Wise words come from her lips and sound council can be found in her friendship.

Because she does not live in fear. She stands fast in the promises of God:

"LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the opressed..." (Psalms 10)

Photo credit: Sense and Sensibility (BBC), 2008