OUT TO PASTOR: Second thoughts can be dangerous to my health

Many things in life can be rather dangerous.

For me, the most dangerous things in my life are thoughts.

I thought about this one day, and by the end of the day, I was in deep trouble. Thoughts have a way of doing that with me.

My New Year’s resolution one year was to have one thought per day. After the first week, I ran out of thoughts.

This year, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I will be married 53 years. During that time, I discovered how vital just one thought can be.

If anybody thinks a lot, it is The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. She has everything thought through before I have a chance to even know what it is. Like most women, she is an expert in multitasking. That means it takes a lot of thought to do all those things simultaneously.

She often says how many headaches she has during the day, and if I could put several thoughts together, I might tell her that those headaches are a result of all that thinking she does during the day.

But, on second thought, I better just leave that one alone.

Once, while we were driving along the highway, she was driving, and I was staring out the window. She took one quick look at me, and said, “What are you thinking about?”

Looking back at her, I responded, “You’re not really thinking that I’m doing any thinking, are you? That’s way above my pay scale.”

Of course, she laughed, and I laughed along with her, but sometimes the truth is the truth.

One of her favorite phrases along this line is, “Do you have any second thoughts on that?”

Recently we were remodeling our house and adding a room that would be my office upon retiring. I had some really great ideas (at least I thought so), and I shared them with her. When I was done with my presentation, she looked at me and said, “Do you want to give that a second thought?”

It was enough for me to give her the first thought, let alone come up with a second thought. But by that time, I was all thought-out.

Then she gave me a whole list of her thoughts about the project and she did it so fast I couldn’t keep up with it and I had no idea what she was talking about.

I was almost ready to say, “Do you want to give them a second thought?”

I knew if I did that, her second thought may not be what I want it to be – if you know what I mean.

Over the years, we have become a wonderful team. I call it the T&N team. What that means is that she Thinks, and I Nod my head in agreement.

I’m sure I didn’t think that through, but I must confess it sure does work. It has produced almost 53 years of marital bliss.

After 53 years of being “thought-free,” my life is quite remarkable. I’ve had very few headaches because there is nothing up there to ache.

Sometimes, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage will ask me about a particular problem and ask, “What do you think about that problem?”

After 53 years of the T&N team experience, I simply shoot back, “I’m not sure. What do you think about it, and what should we do?”

And when I say that, I can sit back and listen to all the good advice and nod my head at the appropriate places, and at the end, we both are smiling. No thought on my part involved.

The best thought I have ever had, and where I harbor no second thoughts, is when I asked The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage to marry me. I’m not sure what her thought process was then, but I can assure you there were no second thoughts on my side of the aisle.

I can sit back and remember a lot of the things I did in the past. Of course, at my age, my memory is not up to par, but at least there’s a little bit left. There were a few times when I thought about something and then had second thoughts, and it was the second thought that got me into trouble.

I have learned that I need to gather all the information before exercising my first thought. If I have everything before me, then I can proceed to the next step in making a decision based on my thought process.

I remembered a special verse of scripture that encouraged me in this regard.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

This is where I need to surrender all my thoughts to God and obey His Word.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, and website is www.jamessnyderministries.com