Mute-N-Pray


by Richard Gibbens Robichaux
(from Plus Magazine .... NVP)



For every half hour we watch commercial television, we typicallly spend 11 to 
12 minutes watching commercials.  Even those of us who mute the 
advertisements, and gaze across the room, waste precious time.


SomeTV programs are even greater time wasters.  A typical telecast of a 
professional football game, for example, lasts more than 3 hours.  The game 
clock is running only 60 of those 180 minutes and actual contact time among 
the players is more like 40 minutes.  Commercials during that teleast can run 
66 minutes!  That's 2 hours of wasted time.


How can we put that time to better use?  A few years ago, I began doing what 
I call Mute-N-Pray.  Whenever a commercial comes on, I press the mute button 
on my remote control.  As the agonizing quiet takes hold of the room,  I 
close my eyes and say a prayer.  Yes, a prayer!  I pray fo the people I have 
been watching.  I pray for the other people in the room.  I pray for peace.


My quiet reflection builds up my energy, rests my eyes and ears, and helps me 
concentrate on the show I'm watching.  I am instantly put into a world I've 
created on my own.


At first, you may get static from your spouse or children, or both.  (It was 
only after some initial resistance that my wife joined me.)  But as they see 
what you are doing, you may impress them to do likewise.
 
Imagine 40 million people watching one program.  At each commercial, all 
press Mute and then they pray.  Wow!  What a flood of prayers.  If this is 
done regularly, think how the world will change. 


Ask friends and family to Mute-N-Pray with you tonight, then invite them to 
join you in making this a habit.  Our children and grandchildren have joined 
us.  If your extended family is watching a game in different cities, the 
joint efforts to Mute-N-Pray will connect the family's asking for good health 
or for help with problems.


The results can be dramatic.  Our entire family muted and prayed with my wife 
had an X-ray that showed a suspicious area.  After our prayers, that lump 
miraculously dissolved!
 
Tonight, I will watch television for 4 hours.  That's 88 minutes of prayer, 
just tonight.


Will you join me, if only for a minute?