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.