I hate to admit this, but when I was a young mother I watched a couple of soap operas!!! I found them one day when I was baking and looking for something to watch while the cookies went in and out of the oven. Seemed innocent enough, after all my own grandmother had her "shows" she watched while she ironed!! Funny though how those two little shows began to orchestrate the way that I planned my entire day! Laundry to fold? Save it for the soap...after all, I was not an idle woman! Lunch by a certain time, then naps , then it was "my shows".
I began to notice, though, that my oldest daughter began to know who the characters were. She was only four and no longer napping. Hmmm....maybe I should quit. But they were my friends!! One morning very early I was up reading my Bible with Baby Rachel on my lap. It seemed that no matter how early I got up to read, someone got up with me. As I read out loud to Rachel from Psalms, I read this verse from Psalm 101: "I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes." WOW! Right away my heart identified these shows as "worthless things" and the desire of my heart to have integrity. I told the Lord then that I agreed with Him that these friends had to go. I talked with my husband and we decided to take a 30 day t.v. fast with our family. Sounded hard, but I was willing to give it a try. We found that we loved having no t.v. in our home. We began the tradition of reading aloud with our children in the evenings. Over the seven years that we were t.v. less, we read The Little House series, the Narnia books, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and many other great books. Our children learned to be very creative players, dancing and putting on programs for all the many holidays. We memorized Scripture together at the rate of 5 verses a week, reviewing past portions on weekends. Taking the show on the road, we visited our local nursing home to quote our verses and sing songs. Our Children learned to love music: Psalty and Colby, Integrity worship music and Hooked on Classics were some of our favorites. What a great time we had! The older kids still talk about these times and how important they were to them. When you read God's Word, be prepared to take action and see how the Lord blesses your obedience and desire to have a heart of integrity!
Blessings!
Diana
