Ever wonder why it’s so hard for a child to be obedient? For example, my precious granddaughter has a really hard time staying away from sweets-even when they are removed from her ability to acquire them! The other day she was at her other grandparents with a large group of adults and, you guessed it! there was candy in several reachable places and it just happened to be the kind of candy she liked- a lot!
She had eaten several pieces, was starting to feel the buzz from the sugar and she started behaving rather poorly… you can see where this is going… she was told “no more”! But of course, she managed to sneak a few more bits before she was removed permanently from the presence of the offending sweets. And reaped the consequences of her behavior! Bless her!
Usually she’s a delightful child to be around and is a little Chatty Cathy (for those of you who remember those dolls- just smile); however, when she’s loaded up… she’s swinging from the chandeliers, squawking and talking like she has to use every word she knows in both an appropriate and inappropriate manner in the next 5 seconds!
Ok, ok, I’ll quit picking on her; but truthfully it’s a great example of disobedience at work. At this time of year, it’s easy to do things to excess and to justify them by saying “it’s only for the holidays”. But in doing so, we sometimes exclude the very things that God wants us to do and run around like chickens with our heads cut off.
This week, I felt that tug of the Holy Spirit and heard the unspoken request of the Father: “Stop watching tv in the daytime until Christmas”. It was a simple request, easy enough to follow, didn’t conflict with anything I wanted….
Hmmm…. so why is it I’m at day 3 and I’m already getting antsy about no tv? I don’t need it, or its “busy-ness”, it doesn’t provide anything other than entertainment, distraction, and a lot of useless information with a little bit of important info thrown into the mix.
I’m finding out a lot about myself, restraint, self-control, being still, and sitting in silence. I’ve gotten quite a lot done in these three days–so I should feel like this is going to be a cakewalk… NOT.
I’m the kind of person that wants to know why? how come? for how long? what’s it good for? and so, what’s in it for me? Now the reasonable person in me can probably answer those questions without difficulty and to anyone’s satisfaction. However, I’m feeling a bit like I’m behaving like my granddaughter… overdosed and unable to break free of the distraction of the tv monster. So, God must really need my attention and because I know He has only good in mind for me… I have not turned the tv on.
Yet.
But I want to!
And, of course, He leads me to the verse I need to understand why I’m not watching tv:
2 John 6- “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands”.
I don’t usually pick and choose verses or portions of verses to read and apply, but today this little snippet stood out- it was just for me and just for today. Tomorrow is another day and there may or may not be a battle of my will against what I know I’m supposed to do. But I am confident, I think…
Stay tuned.