Who is Your God?

This Sunday's first reading had one of my all time favorite verses in it. It's from Joshua and it goes "If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve... As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." It was a personal motto from high school, that transcends into my new family. It was a decision to serve the Lord that I have (hopefully faithfully) stuck with and will stick with for the rest of my life. But the deacon posed the question of what other gods do we serve?

Mine are facebook and T.V. I am a classic facebook addict. I check it multiple times a day, every day of the week. It's almost like a nervous twitch. If I'm sitting down and want to do something, I automatically get up and go to the computer to refresh my e-mail and facebook. A friend of mine, Kristy, recently decided that facebook was interfering with her real life, and closed her account. On one side I was impressed, but the other side shivered at the thought of giving up my drug of choice. I don't want to close my account because it is such a great way to contact my family and close friends, but there needs to be a way to cut down the time I spend on it.

The T.V. addiction is a little funny considering that we only receive 2 stations with our antennae. Once we ditched cable for cost reasons, we thought it would also decrease the amount of tv we watched with the limited channel selections. The t.v. has been my constant companion during the day. In the beginning, it was a way to count the hours as I fumbled my way through caring for a newborn. Today show, Clare wakes up, The View, Clare's 1st nap, All My Children, Clare's 2nd nap, The Doctors, My shift is almost up, The Local News, Kevin will be home anytime now. I felt like I needed the constant background noise to drive out the weirdness of being home alone in a conversation-less house with a baby I had no idea how to care for. Now it's become a distraction when the routine of baby care gets to be boring.

I was also paranoid about making sure Clare didn't actually watch t.v. till she was older. So she's always been faced away from the t.v. or distracted if she was able to see it. But with the dawn of her new found mobility, that is not possible any more. And she loves t.v. It's like her own little heaven when she can lock her eyes on it for more than a few minutes. The t.v. needs to be turned off, and other activities need to take it's place. I know it, but I don't know how to do it yet. It's the god I've been serving, instead of the real God of our household.

So today, Clare and I stopped into the adoration chapel for a bit to try and refocus our life. I wouldn't call it a smashing success, considering Clare thought the small, still, peaceful chapel was great place to try out her highest pitched squeals. Though the other prayers said it was fine, I couldn't help but feel bad about interrupting their quite time with God. Maybe with some practice she will learn what "shh" means and actually do it!

I hope you had a chance this Sunday, or after reading this, to think about what other gods are in your life. I feel a little bit better about admitting mine to you, but that's probably because I'm an overly open person. Wish me luck as I attempt to curb the habits, because.... AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD WE WILL SERVE THE LORD AND NO OTHER!

Side Note To Any Other Parents: If you let your child watch the Jerry Springer show the second they came out of the womb, please know that I do not judge or feel that you made the wrong choice. My decision to keep Clare from watching t.v. is purely personal and not for every kid. The End.

Pimples and Angst

Pimples have decided to take over my chin this week. You would think that God would have an out-clause that after all your teenage years filled with blemishes and night creams, that you would then get to go on living your 20's in facial clear bliss. But no, I swear I'll still be looking over the Noxzema products at Wal-mart when I hit 60. There is only one emotion that runs through my body as I stare into the mirror wishing the pimples would just disappear; teenage angst. You remember those intense emotions of strife that make up every one's teen years. Where every problem is blown 100 times out of proportion due to crazy hormone changes. As I stare into my reflection glaring at my acne, I am suddenly swept away back in time...

I'm back in junior high, and one little slip of my foot has caused a large and ill placed hole in my uniform shorts. For the rest of the day, I am forced to wear my large, baggy, red gym shorts. The icing on the cake is that as I walk away, you can see "KRILE" written in 3 foot tall black letters across my butt. Aughh! In all my teenage wisdom, I'm pretty sure I will die of embarrassment by the end of the day.

Somehow I live to make it to high school and my first job. I'm the new receptionist at the high school aquatic center, only I'm desperate to quit after the first week. You see, the guy I was dating for "forever" dumped me a few weeks ago, and he just happens to be one of our schools star swimmers. That means having to avoid eye contact and pretending to busy almost everyday as he walks through the lobby. The stress alone made me want to buy stock in Clearasil.

Luckily I stuck with the job for over two years and made it to college. My class schedule is made, and before I know it I'm swamped with homework and labs. With finals right around the corner, it is vital to study since the test counts 25% of your final grade. With plenty of studying and rest, I wake up the morning of my final wondering why I feel a little bit too rested. Could it be that I forgot to set my alarm clock and have now conveniently slept through the entire 3 hour testing period for the final. Ahh!!! I leave about 30 frantic, half crying, messages to my professors answering machine begging for a second chance. And like all teen angst problems, it was resolved without any real problem. I re-took the test, passed my classes, and graduated college.

Now in the real world with my feet firmly planted, you would think that a silly thing like acne wouldn't get to me. But think back for a second to your teen years, you know you have stories like mine. Now everyone go wash your face and hope to never have to relive your teen years!