The Medicine Cabinet: Turn It Off — Friday
Proverbs 24:33-34
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. (NIV)
I just finished tiling a large portion of my house. It’s been something on my to-do list for a long time, but I kept putting it off. It all started about three years ago when I put new vinyl flooring down. It was supposed to be waterproof, durable, long-lasting, and many more adjectives the salesman used to describe it. It started warping and cracking six months after I finished installing it.
Rather than ripping it up and fixing the flooring then, I put it off. I’ll do it in six months… I’ll do it next year… Fast forward to two months ago. We had six different rugs covering up the largest of holes. There were cracks and splits that covered the whole area. I had even resorted to supergluing some of the smaller pieces back together. I simply didn’t have time to lay the tile.
Too often, I treat life this same way. I see areas in my life that need work. There are things that I need to do, and people I need to make time for. But too often, I come home from work tired and simply want to sit on the couch and watch something on TV. Many times, my screens are things that stand in the way of what needs to be done. It’s too easy to veg out and watch an episode or two (or a season) of whatever show is my latest binge. After one or two days of this, nothing really changes. But after a prolonged season, my life begins to resemble my vinyl flooring. Things that need to be fixed simply get “glued.” Holes and cracks in my relationships just get a rug thrown over them.
All week, we’ve been talking about screen time and its dangers. You might think I’m two steps away from becoming Amish. The fact is, I don’t believe there’s anything inherently evil about my phone or my TV. But too often, we give these devices far too much authority over our lives. Take an inventory of your screen time today. Does it have a healthy place in your schedule, or is it standing in the way of things God has planned for you? Maybe it’s time to define the relationship between you and your phone. Maybe it’s time to set up some hard boundaries around the amount of time you watch TV.
Friday’s Reflection
Screens are the great distraction of the 21st century. Are there areas in your life that you are ignoring? Are there any relationships that have begun to show cracks and need attention and intentionality? Don’t put off the important things. Rather, let your phone, computer, or TV be the first thing you put down when important work needs to be done.