By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. Psalm 119:105 (MSG)
If I were a resolution type of person, one that I’m endeavoring to make this year is this:
Enlightenment over entertainment.
Two things:
First: Enlightenment is not a bad word, it’s not an evil thing, you will not invoke demons when you use it. The word itself doesn’t belong to any one tribe or religion or creed. In fact, the Biblical text and our faith tradition are full of moments and expressions of enlightenment, and understanding. It’s the moment that you come to know something through experience, or revelation, or a mixture of the two.
It can happen in an instant, but it happens gradually, too. It’s discovery and realization and epiphany and the dawn and the twilight and the learning of new things that you didn’t know before. Its a “beam of light thrown on my dark path.” (Ps 119:105 MSG).
Second: Entertainment isn’t bad. It’s designed to connect us to each other and to wonder; it helps us express things bottled inside of us whether its joy or sadness or even anger. But sometimes entertainment becomes a distraction and takes up too much room in front of our eyes.
Addicted and obsessed with all the latest games and shows and movies and apps, entertainment can become a way to ignore the light that wants to show us the way forward. More and more, I’m finding myself bent over my iPad watching endless hours of (particular show I’m currently bingeing – which was most recently, The Good Wife. I miss Will. Yep – point made.) entertainment, while my books and my walks and my conversations and my journal entries, and playing with my kids, and cooking and eating and all.the.things live in a little more darkness.
The psalmist wrote, “By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.” (Ps 119:105 MSG).
Excessive entertainment too often becomes a device of distraction, keeping us from hearing the voice and seeing the light.
And you don’t just hear the voice in black ink words written on the thinnest paper compiled in an ancient book. It’s there, for sure. But it’s also elsewhere.
Spurgeon said:
“David devoted himself to the study of God’s two great books—nature and Scripture… He [you, me, all] is wisest who reads both the world-book, and the Word-book as two volumes of the same work, and feels concerning them, “My Father wrote them both.” (1.)
Poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” (2.)
The Psalmist wrote:
“God’s splendor is a tale that is told; his testament is written in the stars. Space itself speaks his story every day through the marvels of the heavens. His truth is on tour in the starry vault of the sky, showing his skill in creation’s craftsmanship.” Psalm 19:1 (TPT).
There’s nothing wrong with entertainment. It can be a place where you hear and see and feel the spirit of God (Hello… The Greatest Showman anyone?). But don’t neglect the other beams of light, too. Books and conversations and walks and swims and stars and food and laughter and tears and more…
This year, I’m going to turn the screens off more often and pick up a novel, go for a stroll by the lake, sit on the porch at night at stare at the stars, and let the light found in those places throw beams on my path.
Written by Liz Milani
[font_awesome link=”https://www.instagram.com/lizzy.milani/” icon=”instagram” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzy.milani [font_awesome link=”https://www.twitter.com/lizzymilani/” icon=”twitter” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzymilani
1). Charles Spurgeon. The Treasury of David.
2). Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Aurora Leigh, Book 7, 1857.
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]