This is the post of how television almost ruined our marriage.  Okay, not really…but it could have:)  Cable television has always been a novelty to me.  I loved going on vacation as a kid and watching Saved By the Bell, thinking it was the coolest thing ever.  We never had cable growing up and for that matter we didn’t even have a VCR til I was in highschool.  We had no gaming systems, not even the old school Nintendo.  We had bikes and imaginations.  Kudos to my parents for allowing us to grow up that way:)

When Ry and I got married we lived out in the boondox, yes…even further out than we are now:)  and never thought to get cable or satellite.  Neither of us grew up with it and we didn’t watch a whole lot of tv anyhow.  Then we moved to town.  When we were in town we all of a sudden could bundle our internet and tv, how novel!  And exciting!!  For the first time in my life I had satellite television with DVR.  Why did we ever need to leave our house?  Plus the benefit that we had small children and Mickey Mouse was amazing to them!!  Everyone was happy!  For awhile.  After a month or so Ryan and I started to realize that we weren’t connecting as well.  He would go downstairs at night to watch all of his hunting shows he had dvr’d and I would stay upstairs and watch HGTV or the Hallmark channel.  About the time Ryan was getting ready to leave to be a hunting guide in Wyoming (not really) we realized that we needed to give up cable.  So, we paid the initial start-up fee and then 2 to 3 months later we payed $550 to cancel our cable.  Ouch!  But we seriously felt like it was that important.  Selfishly I loved it, but that’s all I loved.  I could sit on the couch and waste every night watching whatever I wanted…and if something good wasn’t on, no fear….I had something recorded:)

Now, I am not to say that cable is bad for everyone.  I am just saying that for us…it was interfering with our relationship with each other and Jesus.  My sister recently showed me a quote from Mr. John Piper, an amazingly wise man, where he said…

Yep.  Read that one again.  It will smack you right in the middle of the eyes, or at least it did me!  It is so true!!  With tv you can sit and think about nothing…which is nice at times, but when you would rather sit and do nothing all the time is when there is a problem.

Ry and I don’t watch too much tv.  The tv we do watch we try to make sure is appropriate, although there seems to be less and less these days!  We watch maybe 1 movie a month.  But the real question is are we accustomed to the enjoyment of the absence of God????  In any part of our life???

This is something I will think about the next time I go to turn the tv on, and maybe decide to spend some time with Jesus first!