This week's small group challenge for Forty Days of Grace was based on the question: Which influences you more, the Bible or the world? We challenged each small group to do a media fast- no tv, no movies, no internet, no music, no video games- for whatever length of time the group came up with. My group decided to go hardcore and do a week. So I put plastic ties around the entertainment center doors, posted about the media fast on my Facebook page, and my kids voluntarily gave me their iPods and Nintendo DS's. We were ready.
Day 1 was pretty amazing. We already have a "no media before school" rule, so that wasn't a big deal Monday morning. When Sam got home from preschool, we ate lunch and he immediately went to take his nap. When the girls got home from school, Casey immediately started reading and Elsie and Sam played. Elsie went upstairs, got out her guitar and her book, and began to teach herself how to play guitar. Casey kept reading. Sam got out some action figures and played. Not one complaint about the tv.
Elsie then wrote a letter to the child we sponsor in Haiti (the child we haven't written to in about 4 years, regrettably). Casey went to tennis practice, and Elsie and Sam and I went outside and played baseball, soccer, and football. We rode scooters, played tag, and basically enjoyed the day. When Rachel and Casey got home, we ate and then went and got Brusters Ice Cream (excellent). Then, the kids got ready for bed, we prayed, did 40 Days of Grace devotionals, and went to bed.
Rachel and I, instead of going downstairs to watch tv, stayed in our room talking. We fell asleep at 9:30, and when I woke up this morning at 5 am, I felt so rested and great. This first day has shown me what a total and utter waste of time most media is. This was one of the most fun days I've had in a while. I felt so . . . . . ALIVE.
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