We just ended a 10 day fast that included no meats, dairy, caffeine or sugar. It also included no tv or computer stuff over your job. The goal was to eliminate distractions which inevitably helps you to see the forest through the trees. We had a lot of interesting conversations with our children who also joined us in this adventure. They began to realize just how much their computer games and Facebook eats up their time. As we played more board games with them or sat around talking we really got to know each other on a deeper level. As parents one of our goals is to partner with our children to see their dreams come true. It’s so important to empower this next generation. And empowerment comes in many different forms. It’s not just throwing them out into the big wide ocean while you stand on the ship holding the life preserver for when they need it. It’s so much more than that. If, as parents, we can help them to see into things, to process their environment more effectively, to recognize distractions and traps – their decision making skills will soar through the roof. Then the fear failure is minimized and cannot paralyze them.
So with that being said, I wanted to share a piece of writing my second son, Michael, recently wrote towards the end of this fast. How much more proud can a mother get?
Where is the game we once knew? by Michael Chappell
Yeah, I know, listening to a 14 year old speaking his mind is not something you really want to do, but I’ve got to tell you something. My friend, the definition of a game has changed. In the past, you know, games were either made to have fun or waste time and eventually have a bit of fun. Those like Monopoly and Sorry, Clue and Chess; they all are fun if you have the time to sit around. I’ve heard of something called “kick the can”, and, yeah, I know it isn’t the most imaginative name in the world, but hey, let’s face it; when you are forced to go outside, and when there is nothing to do, (or so it seems) you have to improvise. So, that’s what they did, kicked a can. We used to live in a time where it took six hours to do laundry, by hand, and they didn’t complain about how much time it took! They were fine, until some dude made the “automatic” washing machine. And then, they were jubilant! They had more time to spend with they’re family! That’s another reason why games were made, to stick around and have fun with the family.
On and on the inventors go, inventing new stuff and freeing up our time, making our life easier. And let me ask you, what happens when life gets too easy? That, my friend, is a dangerous place in our time. We have so much time on our hands that the games we knew are now improvising to help us get rid of our time! I know it sounds crazy, but it is true! We don’t know what to do with our free time, and the games help us get rid of it! But they aren’t called just games anymore…no, they are called Video games. I am not saying games like Pong or any of those old games that were made to be played together. No, I mean the ones who trap us in this fantasy world…those called WoW, Kotor, SWTOR, COD, MW II, and all those other ones. JumpGate evolution, Lego universe, Second Life, and the list goes on. These games are not made for the family. These are focused on the single person who doesn’t know what to do with the time on his hands. Games that divide the family into several different groups, children and parents, sisters and brothers, warriors and sorcerers (!?). Sometimes they even divide the parents into Mom and Dad, instead of Wife and Husband. It seems like they have so much time on their hand when, really that time can be used to strengthen relationships, to bring the family closer together. Those board games we (meaning you) used to play when we (meaning you, again) were children, which are now sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Let me ask you something, what has happened to the modern family, and how it is separated into many parts rather than combined as one unit?
Now, let me tell you an answer. We do not live in an ordinary world; actually, what we think of as an “ordinary” world doesn’t exist! We live in a spiritual battle where the enemy uses division to separate us; Marriages ending in divorce, friendships broken, relationships…sitting in the dust and eroding away. You know the saying – “divide and conquer” – and that is what is happening! This is the time to join together, to patch up that marriage and say, “Yeah, we made some mistakes, and we always will”, but let us join together, let those objects of division die away as we come back together. Dust off those old board games and become a family again.
Loving Life 
Posted on January 27, 2011
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