My Thoughts Are Worth More Than a Penny (standard:humor, 898 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: May 30 2020	Views/Reads: 1317/1010	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
However important my thoughts may be, the most important thoughts are the thoughts God has concerning me. Searching the Scriptures, I begin to see what God thinks about me.

I must admit that I do gravel a lot in thinking about my thoughts. It
has been a habit of mine down through the years. Thinking is what 
really makes life worth living, or so I believe. 

My father had a saying whenever he saw me staring off into the distance,
“A penny for your thoughts, son.” Then he would smile, and I knew he 
really was not interested in what I was thinking he was just trying to 
set some kind of trap for me. Fortunately, I never fell into that trap, 
whatever it was. Of course, at the time I could've used an extra penny. 


One of my favorite writers, when I was young, was a man by the name of
James Thurber. He was blind, but he was one of the great writers of his 
day. He would think his thoughts about the story he was working on all 
day long, then sit down with his secretary, tell her the story from 
memory, and write it down. 

On one occasion, Thurber and his wife were having dinner with some
friends. Mrs. Thurber looked at her husband and saw that stare that was 
so familiar to her and she said, “James, stop writing and join us here 
on earth.” 

I am afraid I can relate to Mr. Thurber along these lines. When working
on a project, it is tough for me not to think about that project all 
the time. What is most disturbing to me is that I get a brilliant 
thought for the project I am working on when I am with a company of 
people, maybe having lunch or something. A thought I cannot afford to 
lose. On several occasions, I excused myself and went to the men's room 
to jot down those thoughts. 

Some thoughts are worth the effort. 

In thinking about this, I remember a story that Frank W. Boreham (an
Australian pastor and author) once told. He was referring to one of the 
elderly women in his church and described her as, “Someone who never 
had an unexpressed thought in her life.” Meaning, of course, she talked 
all the time. 

I have discovered two kinds of people in this world; one who talks all
the time and one who listens. Of course, there is that third category 
of people who don't do either. 

I have tried to balance this throughout my life. I have tried to talk
when necessary and listen when necessary. However, my biggest flaw is 
that I listen when I should be talking, and I talk when I should be 
listening. If this isn't frustrating, I do not know what is. 

Since I have an MR degree in marriage, I have tried to work on this. 

The big challenge is to know when to listen and when to talk. As I get
older, I find myself talking more than I'm listening. This, in and of 
itself, gets me into more trouble than I can handle. 

The other day, my wife and I were watching a little television, and she
was telling me about an incident that day. She paused and then said, 
“Are you listening to me?” 

No matter how long you've had that MR degree try never to not listen
when your wife is talking. She may have a quiz later on. 

“Are you listening to me?” She said somewhat sarcastically. 

Stuttering a little bit, I said, “Why, yes, I'm listening to you.” 

“Okay,” she said, “what was I talking about?” 

At that point, I knew I was in trouble because I may have been listening
to her, but I did not really hear what she had to say. 

We have in our society today something called “Social Distancing,” but
in my house, I am infected with “Hearing Distancing.” This has gotten 
me into more trouble than anything else has. 

It is not that I do not want to listen to my wife; I sometimes forget to
pay attention. After all, when you are as broke as I am, paying 


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