No More TV in the Bedroom

No More TV in the Bedroom

by Brian C. Hughes

Well, I did it. I went home today in between church and a Bible study I lead on Sunday evenings and I walked into my bedroom, paused for a moment of reflection, then went to work. I disconnected the antenna and the DVD player, unplugged it from the wall, and took the TV out of my bedroom. As I said today during the service, I have known for some time that the TV in my bedroom had become a hindrance to my spiritual life. It has also interfered with my family life, though. Evenings that should have been spent in good conversation between Susan and me were focused instead on the tube. We'd even watch reruns of shows that we'd already seen...sometimes more than once! And there were times when I should have been reading my kids a story or playing with them, but I was simply addicted to that thing. My spiritual life got neglected, my wife got neglected, my kids got neglected. It was in the way. It had become a real problem.

But now it's gone.

It must have weighed 500 pounds...I think I've had it for ten years. It was one of those monstrous TVs that was big and bulky, but whose screen was disproportionately small. I didn't want help. I wanted to move it by myself...sort of as my own Abrahamic moment, where I took that which had come between me and God and offered it on the sacrificial mountain.

Once it was out, parked in a temporary spot on the floor in the hallway, I crawled into bed and laid there, soaking in the quiet. No ambient noise. No distractions. Just stillness. And just before I briefly dozed off, I could swear I heard the voice of God...