couch

by

A Soap Opera Is Capturing The Highest TV Ratings

The other day I discovered that a TV soap opera was making a comeback in popularity.

A soap opera is capturing the highest TV ratings

It might seem a little crazy that I would know about this sort of thing but, to be really honest, there was a time when I was into soap operas. 

It goes back to when I was in high school. 

Getting right to homework after school was not hot on my list of things to do. I liked to unwind by lying on the couch, with a handful of freshly baked cookies, watching some late afternoon television. 

The cookies always took the most effort because my mom would bake them and then hide them. My mom had this, “I’m making cookies for you, but I don’t want you to eat them all” mentality.

The truth was that however long my mom spent baking cookies, my brother and I could erase any trace that they existed in a matter of minutes. 

With my cookies in hand, I’d flop on the couch and watch my favourite afternoon show, Perry Mason. Perry Mason was a defence lawyer who never lost a case..

But as TV stations will do from time to time, they changed the afternoon programming line-up and Perry Mason was taken off the air. 

I ended up watching (and, I might add, getting hooked on) a soap opera called …. da, da, da, da: The Edge ……. Of Night. 

The show was just called “The Edge of Night” but in the opening credits the announcer had this dramatic pause between “Edge” and “Of Night”.

It wasn’t like I watched the show for years and years, but I did watch it for a time. I made sure I was in front of that TV every afternoon; I wouldn’t miss it. The storyline had me all wrapped up, knew each and every character and cared about what was happening or going to happen to them. 

About a year later, the late afternoon programming times changed again. They began showing reruns of the Flintstones so I started watching that instead. 

But every once in a while I would turn on the Edge of Night. Months would go by without me watching, but I discovered that when I tuned in, I still knew what was going on. The characters were the same, the storyline hadn’t changed and even the drama between characters had progressed very little. 

It was like I never missed a show. I realized that, though I was hooked for a time on watching every day\, I could watch it on a very infrequent, unscheduled way and never miss out on what was happening. 

Recently I’ve been doing that with the TV news. The content is mostly the same, the storyline hasn’t changed in a year and a half and, just like on “The Edge ….. Of Night”, only every once in a while a real bombshell is reported.

I don’t have to watch the news more than weekly to stay on top of it. … It’s like a soap opera.

Here’s the thing: On the one hand, days and years seem to go by quickly, but on the other hand, the storyline of our lives seems to take forever to unfold. We can get so caught up in the steady, almost unchanging, story of our lives that we forget about how fast life is really moving. The big picture is that we have a short time to respond to Jesus Christ and live out a life of faith in Him. Don’t be lulled into thinking you have time for that later. Be sure you are living the right storyline now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What changes do you need to make to your life? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one delivered to your email inbox twice weekly.

by

Real Freedom May Not Be At The End Of Your Hard Work

Sometimes you work hard to give yourself more freedom later, only to be disappointed when that anticipated freedom becomes available.

freedom

That was my experience the other day. I was trying to finish a talk I was scheduled to give in two days because I didn’t want to have to work on it the next day.

I was tired and wanted some freedom the next day – some time off. I didn’t have plans; I just knew I needed some time to myself.

So I worked at it all day – even when the ideas were flowing more like a frozen lake than a rapidly moving river in the spring. 

I found out late in the afternoon that my evening engagement was cancelled so I just kept on working through the dinner hour. I put my head down and kept writing. In fact, I got on a bit of a roll, and it was then that I determined to finish the talk, no matter what, so that I wouldn’t have to work on it the next day.

The thought of having a free day inspired me to keep going. I didn’t make a list of things I wanted to do; just the idea of being able to do whatever I wanted was so appealing right then.

By 8 pm I had finally finished my talk. It was a huge relief, a weight off my shoulders. 

But I still was not quite finished. 

If I wanted to be really free the next day, there were a couple more things I needed to do. I spent the next twenty minutes putting my power point deck together for my presentation. I then put together the online outline and uploaded it to the server. I printed a copy of my talk and then put my computer copy in a format for my iPad. 

By 9 pm I was done. I left the office tired but feeling really good. I was ready for a full day off.

Life was good; I felt free. I was looking forward to the next day.

The next morning, I started the day with a 7 am hockey game. Then the rest of the day was all mine. 

What do you do when you have a whole day in front of you and you have no responsibilities? 

Well, let me tell you what you do: you make a plan. Right away, immediately, you make a plan so that you use your freedom to give you maximum enjoyment and fulfillment. 

… You don’t do what I did. 

I put absolutely no thought into what I wanted to do. I just had this idea of being free for a day, but I didn’t plan anything for that free time. 

When the end of my day off came, I felt that I had wasted my freedom. I didn’t do anything of consequence because I hadn’t thought of what I might want to do. 

When what you are looking forward to is vast and vague, you will never be happy with the outcome unless you make a concrete plan.

Here’s the thing: The idea of complete bliss and unending tranquility when life is over will not materialize unless you have a plan for it now. Plan now for what you want your future to look like by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and trusting your life and future to Him. Then, when all your work in this life is over, you won’t be disappointed. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Right now how will you go about making your plan for the future? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

It’s Hard To Let It Go

Today’s post is a guest blog by Lily Silcock, my wife.  Lily is a home maker and virtual executive assistant for an international company.  Lily is the mother of two grown children and has been married to Paul for 28 years.

After being patient for what felt like forever, I finally have new living room furniture. Why did I want new furniture, you ask? I liked our old couch; it’s just that it was almost 29 years old … and pink! … well, “dusty rose” to be exact.  It was very “in” in 1985.

photo

But dusty rose/pink has not been “in” for quite some time now. I’ve just swallowed my pride and lived with it because there was always something more urgent to spend the money on. And the couch was still in pretty good shape.

But all good couches eventually die. For the last number of years, when anyone over about 170 lbs sat on it, they looked like they were eating their knees! Apparently, there’s a shelf life for couch springs.

The ironic thing is, after sounding like a broken record for years now, saying I wanted new furniture, I found it hard to part with my old pink couch. Its springs were gone; it was not good for my back, but for some reason, I didn’t want to let it go.

Paul and I got the couch when we were first married. I can still remember the day it was delivered to our little apartment. I was so excited until the movers said it wouldn’t fit up the staircase of our building. In the end, it had to be hoisted up over the balcony of our third floor walk-up.

It was worth it. We spent many hours on that couch, talking, reading, dreaming … and Paul napping. He’s always maintained that it had some power to suck the life right out of him. I believe it. He couldn’t lie on it without falling asleep in about thirty seconds. But then again, if Paul gets even semi-horizontal anywhere, he’ll be asleep in about thirty seconds.

In each house we’ve lived, that pink couch has been front and centre in the living room.  It’s been part of every Christmas and birthday and special event our family has celebrated.

As a matter of fact, every year on our kids’ birthdays, after the presents were opened, we took a picture of them sitting on that couch with their gifts beside them. The couch was like a measuring stick, showing how they had grown bigger each year.

That pink couch was familiar and I was used to it. I can still picture Karlie as a toddler trying to climb up on it. I can see Mike and Karlie putting on puppet shows from behind it. I remember both kids curled up with Paul on that couch as he read them Franklin the turtle story books.

There were nerf gun wars that began from that couch, sock wars, and tickle fights. That couch absorbed both the laughter of hilarious events retold, and the tears of hearts hurt and healed. A lot of life took place around that couch.

I’ll admit it, it was hard to let it go. Even though it was no longer good, and even a bit of an eye-sore, I was kind of emotionally attached to it.

Here’s the thing:  Just like our old couch, we can get attached to attitudes, thought patterns, and behaviours that aren’t good for us. They’ve just become familiar and comfortable and so we hang on to them. Give them over to God and let them go. He has something much better for you that He’s waiting to deliver. You won’t regret it. I LOVE our new furniture … why did I put up with that old couch for so long?

Take care,

Lily Silcock

Question: What is something that has been hard for you to let go of?  Leave your comment below.