Hope in the Heartland
Disconnect to reconnect
Pastor, Gracepoint church
We had problems with our DVD player one day and so I mentioned to my 9-year-old daughter, Jayne, that “I didn’t have a DVD player when I was your age.” Then I went on to tell her that we didn’t even have VCRs or personal computers. I stopped short of telling her that we only had a black and white television with three, sometimes four, channels, and I also resisted mentioning that we had no video games.
Furthermore, I didn’t break out the famous line about having to walk 10 miles to school through knee-deep snow … uphill both ways. And never once have I told my children that the only time we had electricity when I was growing up was if lightening struck the outhouse.
She was sufficiently horrified by the thought of growing up without computers and videos. She looked at me, sad eyes filled with pity, probably thinking the reason our family owns several seasons of the “Little House on the Prairie” television show on DVD is because the Ingalls were my next-door neighbors.
Ain’t technology grand? Yes, but family is better.
The sad fact is that while there has been an explosion of technology there has been an erosion of quality family life.
Unplug the video games, turn off the TV, and spend face-to-face, heart-to-heart time with your family this year. Make this new year a time to communicate and reconnect with people who live under your roof. You’ll never regret the investment.