Small Changes Matter

Michael Spencer March 4th, 2009

We turned off the TV.

Cold turkey. After growing up with it since we were children (we're both in our early fifties); after having favorite shows, sports, news programs for years. After raising our kids with it. After defending having a TV to all our religious friends who gave it up or never had one.

We turned it off a month ago. The TV is gone. The budget needed an infusion and no Obama bail out check has arrived. So we looked at the family finances, looked at our options (watching House on Hulu.com, etc.) and made the call.

The TV is gone. Not for Lent. Not for the duration of the economic downturn. For good.

The first thing I noticed is that there were a series of automatic behaviors that were completely frustrated. For example: I would come home at night, go to the kitchen, get snacks and a drink, plop down on the couch, turn on the TV.

Now…I just come in and wander about like a disoriented goose. In a few minutes, I get my bearings and everything is OK.

I bought a new book light. I subscribed to my baseball team's broadcasts via the Internet. (Less than one trip to the ballpark. Way less.)

I bought a couple of new boardgames. I'm learning to play Chinese chess. I joined the online chess club some of my buddies have been trying to get me into for years. I'm losing a game right now. It's fun.

There's a strange peacefulness in the house. It's the absence of commercials, and the absence of inane voices barking about inane subjects.

The days seem longer. Bedtime comes earlier.

I pulled out my shortwave and weather radios.

It's much easier to pray; much easier to talk to my wife.

Why didn't we do this before? I could have told you a dozen reasons we had to have a television. None of them are true. I could have told you that it had no real effect on the kind of person I was becoming. Not true.

In the deal, I also gave up Joel Osteen, Bill O'Reilly, TBN and 12 local religious channels. Do I have to say how I feel about that? What a waste of time.

I'm reading at an accelerated pace. I'm listening to more good music. I'm writing and not asking when the game will come back on.

Sixty bucks a month isn't going to make or break us. My wife said we didn't have to make this change. But something in me said "Do it. Now is a good time."

It's like that with good changes. They knock and knock at our door, and we find other things to do. We know we need to answer and heed the message, but we have to be busy. Entertained. Amused.

Actually, we need to find a slower pace, a quieter place, a saner flow of life.

It's one tiny change and there are many more I need to make. Perhaps this one change will get me to the others.

I'm not trying to sell you on the idea of giving up your television. Do what you believe is right. But I wonder what you already know is right, that you've just not done up till now.

Why not do it now?

It's not so much fear with most of us as it is bad momentum. Routine. Quiet addictions that we could break with very little effort. And on the other side…a better life, family, finances and health.

Think about it. Of such small things are better disciples made. I can't see Jesus watching much TV. I can't see Jesus living my life very much like I live it. So on to the next small change…with prayer and the help of the Spirit.

Michael Spencer, aka "The Internet Monk," has been blogging for 8 years, ministering as a Baptist minister for 30 and preaching for 37. He's currently campus minister at a Christian school in Southeastern, Ky. When he reads the Bible, he imagines that Steve Brown is the voice of God.

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