Waking Moments

What is it that we spend most of our waking moments doing?  Thinking about?  Wanting to do?  During our free time, what is our go to thing?  What is the one thing that we offer up our time and money to?

It's different for everybody.  For some people it's the other gender.  For others it's entertainment, such as TV or movies.  For others it's music.  For some people it's alcohol.  For others it could be a group of people.

For this week, the week before Easter, the youth group at my church has decided to give that thing up.  By giving it up, it frees us time, money, and energy to devote to God (and probably a lot of other necessary things we've been procrastinating on).  They're giving it up in remembrance of Jesus's suffering because of His great love for us.  He gave up everything for us; we should be able to give up just one thing for Him.

I decided to join them.  This week, I'm going to be giving up TV shows.  Watching TV shows has been consuming me.  Half the time I'm awake, I'm thinking about what's going to happen next in the plot.  What is the protagonist going to do?  How will he or she get out of that terrible situation?  What would I do if it were me?  Wouldn't it be wonderful if my life was like that show?  Am I even flexible enough to kick that high?  That girl is so lucky to be married to that guy.  The list goes on.  I'm currently in the middle of watching nine different shows, too.  Any time I have free time, I've been putting off chores and exercise to watch just one more episode.  That one more episode usually turns out to be three or four.

Giving up watching TV shows will give me more time to do my laundry, do the dishes, take out the trash, etc.  I'll have more time to go on walks and exercise.  I'll have more time to reach out to friends I haven't talked to in a while.  And most importantly, I'll have more time to devote to God.  To pray to Him, to talk to Him, and to be in his Word.

The reason why I've become so obsessed with watching TV is because it lets me forget about myself.  It lets me forget about what I'm doing and the situation I'm in.  It lets me forget my feelings and dive into a fantasy world where I can be someone else for a little while.  It gives me happiness that I can't get from myself.  But all those things that I can get from watching TV, I should be able to get from being with God.

So that's what I'm going to do this week.

Along with giving up watching shows, I've also decided to do a challenge.  For five days, today through Friday, I'm going to do QT everyday and write a post on whatever it is that I learn, glean, or remember from the QT.  I'm actually supposed to be doing QT everyday, except I've only been doing it once or twice a week.

Hopefully from this week's experience, my addiction to TV and other things will be quenched and I'll learn to want to spend more time with God over other things.