This post is a bit of a follow up to a previous post in which I share some big questions we've been wrestling with. I don't have a solid answer yet, but I've found some things that are not the answer and I thought I'd update you on my process of finding The point.
I'm quick to tell people we don't have a TV. This is somewhat misleading because it makes it sound like we don't get stuck on the couch watching shows every evening. We do. Thank you, internet.
I was staring at my parents' TV Sunday afternoon not watching the football game. Just staring and pretending to be entertained while our 10 month-old went from toy to toy, relative to relative, whining her way between interactions. But did I get off the couch and teach her something new or share a laugh? Nope.
In my boredom, my mind started to wander. It wandered so far I had a mini out-of-body experience. As I watched myself sitting on the couch, I could understand why I wasn't interested in staring at a screen. That made sense. What didn't make sense was why I kept sitting on the couch rather than doing something with my family or playing with my daughter who was obviously seeking more attention. It made even less sense when I thought about how often I stare at a screen and find interest in a made-up story line. I started to feel downright uncomfortable when I pretended to be able to see all my neighbors in their houses feeling lonely or needing some extra help around the house while I sit and look at a screen.
Entertaining ourselves is not The point.
Earlier in the day, during Sunday school, we were thinking and talking about ways in which we use our strengths to be catalysts for the Gospel. I wrote down healthy marriage/relationships and smiling/noticing people.
I meet a lot of people at work who have never seen a healthy marriage and who have a lot of broken relationships. They don't trust anybody anymore. Having a healthy marriage can be a huge example of God at work in your life. But that requires something beyond just having a healthy marriage.
It would require me using it for something beyond making my own life good and propping up my stack of reasons to be proud of being me. Somehow I've turned serving my husband into serving my husband to ultimately serve myself. I've become overly protective of Our Time: the exclusive time we need together each week to keep our awesome-tastic, healthy relationship awesome-tastic and healthy.
A healthy marriage is a point, but it is not The point.
I'm starting to find a theme among the things that are not The point. It seems that anything founded in serving ourselves eventually breaks down into pointlessness.
Serving ourselves is not The point.
Of course I've known from the beginning of this Quest to Find The Point that serving God is The point. I guess my real question is: What does God want me to be doing?
I'm quick to tell people we don't have a TV. This is somewhat misleading because it makes it sound like we don't get stuck on the couch watching shows every evening. We do. Thank you, internet.
I was staring at my parents' TV Sunday afternoon not watching the football game. Just staring and pretending to be entertained while our 10 month-old went from toy to toy, relative to relative, whining her way between interactions. But did I get off the couch and teach her something new or share a laugh? Nope.
In my boredom, my mind started to wander. It wandered so far I had a mini out-of-body experience. As I watched myself sitting on the couch, I could understand why I wasn't interested in staring at a screen. That made sense. What didn't make sense was why I kept sitting on the couch rather than doing something with my family or playing with my daughter who was obviously seeking more attention. It made even less sense when I thought about how often I stare at a screen and find interest in a made-up story line. I started to feel downright uncomfortable when I pretended to be able to see all my neighbors in their houses feeling lonely or needing some extra help around the house while I sit and look at a screen.
Entertaining ourselves is not The point.
Earlier in the day, during Sunday school, we were thinking and talking about ways in which we use our strengths to be catalysts for the Gospel. I wrote down healthy marriage/relationships and smiling/noticing people.
I meet a lot of people at work who have never seen a healthy marriage and who have a lot of broken relationships. They don't trust anybody anymore. Having a healthy marriage can be a huge example of God at work in your life. But that requires something beyond just having a healthy marriage.
It would require me using it for something beyond making my own life good and propping up my stack of reasons to be proud of being me. Somehow I've turned serving my husband into serving my husband to ultimately serve myself. I've become overly protective of Our Time: the exclusive time we need together each week to keep our awesome-tastic, healthy relationship awesome-tastic and healthy.
A healthy marriage is a point, but it is not The point.
I'm starting to find a theme among the things that are not The point. It seems that anything founded in serving ourselves eventually breaks down into pointlessness.
Serving ourselves is not The point.
Of course I've known from the beginning of this Quest to Find The Point that serving God is The point. I guess my real question is: What does God want me to be doing?
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