no cable....now what?

It has been on my heart for a long while to cancel our cable. It seems that I kept reading things about spending your time wisely and how we prioritize our days. I read one quote in a book that said that Christian Americans on average spend 10 minutes a day with God and 4 hours a day watching TV. I could see that in my own life. Also the shows that I was watching just didn't interest me anymore, I don't know if I am changing or if the shows I was watching were just getting lame. (Grey's Anatomy?? what happened?)

Jarrod and I just felt like we don't want every evening to be spent centered around what is on TV. There is so much more to life than the TV line up! The other thing is that our daughter Lily loves to watch some TV and I didn't like some of the shows she was wanting to watch, I thought they were to grown up for her and some cartoons were actually pretty violent. (Although i know there are some really good ones too.)

But in an act to force ourselves to choose better ways to spend our time we canceled cable. This shouldn't be such a big deal, but for some reason it was! I had been meaning to do it for about 6 months and kept putting it off. I kept second guessing myself, even though I knew it was something that I needed to do for us.

Well it is day 4 with no cable and there have been a few moments of regret I have to say. Last night I was sitting here after the kids were fast asleep, Jarrod was working on his computer and I was looking at the blank TV and thinking I could be watching project runway right now. I started to wonder why I canceled cable and wishing I could watch my show. I started to complain a little to Jarrod, I said "ok I will try this for a month but if I don't like it I am turning it back on!" Jarrod's reply was "it's called making a sacrifice." He was so right! To us this is our sacrifice! How fortunate are we that not having 200 channels is our only "sacrifice"!

I guess the part I didn't think about was, we spent so many of our evenings centered around having the TV on that after it's gone, I had to actually start doing something else! So I did get up and do a workout, which if my show was on I would not have done.

Then as I went to bed complaining to Jarrod, I miss HD and DVR..... I picked up a book I was meaning to finish reading and it was like God knew exactly what I needed to hear, it was as if the chapter I was on was meant for this time in my life. Here are just a few of the great reminders God gave me.

Oh and for the shopping addict in me, these truths also go along with that...

Usually, without our knowing it, our pursuit of happiness through stuff is doomed to fail because it is based on a lie. Our actions confirm that a disturbing number of us truly believe this equation: better possessions + peaceful circumstances + thrilling experiences + the right relationships + the perfect appearance = happiness.

Many of us live as if we honestly believe this phony formula. Even if we deny it with our mouths, the way we spend our time, money, and thoughts leaves little doubt.
Our culture has conditioned us to believe that the things we don't have are the things that will make us happy- never mind that many of those things didn't even exist five years ago. We blindly chase whatever is newer, shinier, or faster.

The thing that really convicted me was how we say we know appearances and stuff is not our priority and we "know" they wont make us happy. But our time and our actions show otherwise. How many of you have said if I was only thinner, taller, tanner I would be happy. But I know in my life, even when I was at my fittest and in the best shape of my life, I still felt that I could be skinnier or more toned.(when I look back at pictures I want to slap myself for thinking that)  We are never satisfied!

It's only when we seek God and His kingdom over the empty and hollow things of this world that we can experience true and lasting blessing. And when we do, we'll gladly turn off the television, shut down the computer, walk out of the expensive store, and seek more of God. We'll let go of our materialistic grip on the things of this world and we'll realize that the peacemakers, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the humble, and the broken are more happy.

Real happiness is found only in the Lord, and when we find it we'll understand, perhaps for the first time, how blessed we really are.

By no means do I think TV is wrong or that everyone should turn off cable. I don't know that we will always not have cable. But for now I know that I want to put into action how I want to live my life and not just talk about it, reorganize our priorities. And our priorities is essentially how we spend our time. I do not want my family's focus everyday to be centered around the big black box!
But centered around our Heavenly Father!

 Here are some interesting quotes that I found:


All television is educational television.  The question is:  what is it teaching?  ~Nicholas Johnson


Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.  ~Ann Landers


If you came and you found a strange man... teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you'd kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it.  ~Jerome Singer


It's the menace that everyone loves to hate but can't seem to live without.  ~Paddy Chayevsky




Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2