Thankful Thursday, It's what I am thinking.
Wow I have so much to be thankful for today but let me start with a story.
This morning I got to get up late because I had blood-work scheduled around 8 am. Compared to my regular schedule of being at work at 6:30 this was like heaven. I got to sleep in until 5:30, whooo hooo. The only bad part about my morning was that I couldn’t eat before the blood work. But since I had extra time this morning, I made breakfast for my family before I headed out.
So there I was on my way to the appointment and I see a big cloud over the ocean with the sun behind it. It would have made an awesome picture if I had my camera with me but I didn’t. As I drove, I kept looking at the cloud from time to time trying to see some kind of shape in it. (maybe a dog, or a face or anything that looked like something other than a cloud) But all I could see was this dark cloud with a bright silver lining. And that is when the thought popped into my mind; If only it looked like “Tater Baby Jesus”.
Ok for those who are just joining me, way back in my early days of blogging, I grew this potato that looked like the Baby Jesus. I swear I am not making this up. It was about the same time that someone saw Jesus’ face in their ultrasound but that had nothing to do with my discovery. So I named this little spud; Tater Baby Jesus. And I kept it for the longest time until my wife said I was insane and she made me throw it out. I told her that "you can't throw away Jesus" and she threatened to have me locked up.
Anyway as I searched the clouds for shapes, the thought of TBJ popped into my mind and it made me smile but the smile didn’t last long. Less than 10 seconds later, the radio announcer said: “Here’s an interesting story and it has to do with potatoes and God. Again I must say I am not making this up. So within 10 seconds of me “thinking” Tater Jesus, the radio announcer said “Potato and God”. Isn’t that amazing? I know it gave me chills too. The story turned out to be about a man that said he was working for God and he began throwing potatoes at a woman in Wally World so she wouldn't go to hell. And you thought I was crazy!
So this happening made me think about thoughts and actions. I have always tried to think before I act and I do think it is a good philosophy to have. I know lots of people who don’t do this and they often end up with egg on their face or they have to apologize for something they did without thinking. If you give it a few seconds of thought then you may hold off on doing something that deep down you may not want to do. And there is always the other side of the coin where some people who act without thinking may not care who they offend or make mad. It’s possible. But I am one of those people who care about what others think and I care about how I make others feel. So I take those few seconds and check the runner (myself) so to speak and decide what I want to do.
But this radio thing made me wonder about my thoughts. Over the past few weeks, months and years I have had some major trials and tribulations. And although I have for the most part kept my feelings to myself, (could this be why my blood pressure is so high?)I still had those feelings? Sometimes I felt like getting even, getting revenge or just coming back with a nasty comment. Like I said, for the most part I didn’t do it but I did think it. So does this make me a bad person? The Bible says that God knows your thoughts even before you think them so He must know them after you brought them into your mind. That means just thinking bad thoughts is a bad thing. But fortunately God knows what is happening in my life and maybe He is testing me and understands why I thought the way I did. And who knows, maybe I will get extra credit for not acting on my thoughts. I wonder if I passed the test?
So I guess what I am saying is this week, I am thankful for being able to remain calm most of the time and I am thankful that God will forgive me for my mean thoughts. Don’t you wish everyone was so forgiving? Oh and I thank God for such an awesome sunrise. Maybe that was a picture of God.
(Disclaimer; my family may disagree with me being calm most of the time but if they only knew what I go through sometimes)
Have a great day,
Greg
This morning I got to get up late because I had blood-work scheduled around 8 am. Compared to my regular schedule of being at work at 6:30 this was like heaven. I got to sleep in until 5:30, whooo hooo. The only bad part about my morning was that I couldn’t eat before the blood work. But since I had extra time this morning, I made breakfast for my family before I headed out.
So there I was on my way to the appointment and I see a big cloud over the ocean with the sun behind it. It would have made an awesome picture if I had my camera with me but I didn’t. As I drove, I kept looking at the cloud from time to time trying to see some kind of shape in it. (maybe a dog, or a face or anything that looked like something other than a cloud) But all I could see was this dark cloud with a bright silver lining. And that is when the thought popped into my mind; If only it looked like “Tater Baby Jesus”.
Ok for those who are just joining me, way back in my early days of blogging, I grew this potato that looked like the Baby Jesus. I swear I am not making this up. It was about the same time that someone saw Jesus’ face in their ultrasound but that had nothing to do with my discovery. So I named this little spud; Tater Baby Jesus. And I kept it for the longest time until my wife said I was insane and she made me throw it out. I told her that "you can't throw away Jesus" and she threatened to have me locked up.
Anyway as I searched the clouds for shapes, the thought of TBJ popped into my mind and it made me smile but the smile didn’t last long. Less than 10 seconds later, the radio announcer said: “Here’s an interesting story and it has to do with potatoes and God. Again I must say I am not making this up. So within 10 seconds of me “thinking” Tater Jesus, the radio announcer said “Potato and God”. Isn’t that amazing? I know it gave me chills too. The story turned out to be about a man that said he was working for God and he began throwing potatoes at a woman in Wally World so she wouldn't go to hell. And you thought I was crazy!
So this happening made me think about thoughts and actions. I have always tried to think before I act and I do think it is a good philosophy to have. I know lots of people who don’t do this and they often end up with egg on their face or they have to apologize for something they did without thinking. If you give it a few seconds of thought then you may hold off on doing something that deep down you may not want to do. And there is always the other side of the coin where some people who act without thinking may not care who they offend or make mad. It’s possible. But I am one of those people who care about what others think and I care about how I make others feel. So I take those few seconds and check the runner (myself) so to speak and decide what I want to do.
But this radio thing made me wonder about my thoughts. Over the past few weeks, months and years I have had some major trials and tribulations. And although I have for the most part kept my feelings to myself, (could this be why my blood pressure is so high?)I still had those feelings? Sometimes I felt like getting even, getting revenge or just coming back with a nasty comment. Like I said, for the most part I didn’t do it but I did think it. So does this make me a bad person? The Bible says that God knows your thoughts even before you think them so He must know them after you brought them into your mind. That means just thinking bad thoughts is a bad thing. But fortunately God knows what is happening in my life and maybe He is testing me and understands why I thought the way I did. And who knows, maybe I will get extra credit for not acting on my thoughts. I wonder if I passed the test?
So I guess what I am saying is this week, I am thankful for being able to remain calm most of the time and I am thankful that God will forgive me for my mean thoughts. Don’t you wish everyone was so forgiving? Oh and I thank God for such an awesome sunrise. Maybe that was a picture of God.
(Disclaimer; my family may disagree with me being calm most of the time but if they only knew what I go through sometimes)
Have a great day,
Greg
Comments