How soon “not now” becomes “never.”

MARTIN LUTHER

I HAVE A PROBLEM.

I tend to get sucked into certain TV shows. On Netflix. Where you can watch them back-to-back. Every night.

First, it was Felicity, back when I was first married. A friend lent me her Felicity DVD set, and I watched almost all of it in a week.

Then there was the show 24. My husband and I had only one little babe, and she went to bed at 6:30 every night. We had just moved into a new house and everything was in boxes. Instead of unpacking, we sat and watched all the episodes of 24 on DVD. We were seriously sleep deprived during this time, staying up each night until 2:00 a.m.

Fast-forward to this past fall when we got a streaming Netflix subscription. I found the show Bones, and proceeded to watch every episode within two months’ time. As you can imagine, I didn’t get much done during those months.

And you know what I’ve been doing the past two weeks? Watching Felicity. Again.

I know. It’s sad, really. So sad, in fact, that I canceled my Netflix subscription because clearly my self-control levels are at an all-time low. With the canceled subscription and no access to any channels, I just lowered my distraction levels significantly. My husband is proud.[1]

There are a million and one things to distract us from being productive, and some are even good distractions (our children, our husbands). But we all know there are distractions that just kill our time and waste our lives. Yes, we all need to take a break sometimes to relax and let ourselves be distracted. But on the whole, distractions can really mess with us and keep us from living. Or just doing the things we need to do.

What is stealing the life from your productivity? What do you know you need to lay down the law about and get serious about walking away from? How are your time-redeeming skills?

READ PSALM 90:12

What does this verse say about our days and what we should do with them? Why does this matter?

MARTHA CHALLENGE

TODAY WE MOVE INTO THE DINING ROOM.

(If you don’t have a dining room, you can take a day off or work on another cleaning project.) What needs to happen in your dining room to get it clean? Today we’re doing that!

CLEAN ALL SURFACES

1. Clean off all surfaces; scrub them down or dust them.

2. Clean up clutter spots in the room and be ruthless when it comes to throwing out papers and things you don’t need.

3. Once you’ve cleaned and organized, sweep and mop your floors or vacuum them.

You are now ready for a lovely candlelit dinner with your family!