“Mom, is that stupid convention thing still on?” One of the children asks.

        “I can’t believe they’re on again tonight!” You think to yourself.

        “I’ll just have to watch sports or one of the movie channels.” Your spouse grumbles.

        Yeah, it’s convention time. Yes, it’s boring. All the key points have been decided before they started—it’s just a big commercial for the Party having a party. Propaganda and big promises resonate in a big hall with balloons and political signs. It might be fun to be in the middle of the madness, but it makes for really boring TV. It will be a long, bad week, won’t it!?

        NO!

        Stop the presses. This week of boring TV is a real opportunity for those of us who  “watch too much TV.” Rather than changing to another cable channel, let’s seize the opportunity to turn the one eyed monster off! Begin by listing all the things you and your family can get done during the evening hours when there’s nothing on but political convention, re-runs, old movies, and quibbling over paid athletes and owners playing kid games for big bucks on the tube.

        With many children starting school, this is a great time to get them in the swing of proper homework and study habits. Then there is all that end of summer yard work that needs to be done. Of course that book you promised to read over the summer is still waiting. Most of us have overdue letters and  “Thank You” notes to write. This week would be a wonderful time to get back into the habit of taking that evening walk with a friend, spouse, or child. For some of us, it’s an opportunity to get back into the nightly prayer devotional with our children or reawaken our hearts to daily Bible reading. We can call a friend we haven’t talked with in a long time or go on a family picnic, see a movie, play a board game, have a special prayer time for the election, visit someone in the hospital, write a note of encouragement to someone who is ill or bereaved. Our list could go on and on.

        Instead of sitting around frustrated with convention TV, let’s make a new start on a productive life. Make this the most productive political convention you never watched. After all, the real change in our nation’s economy, morality, literacy, productivity, and vitality begins at home. Let your home be the launching pad of a new era in politics—turn off the tube and turn on your life!

        “Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16