Sunday Musings

 7/10/2022

    Dear W.H.R.                                                   

(Whoever Happens to be Reading)

Praised be Jesus Christ! Blessed Sunday to you!

This past week, I’ve been thinking alot about thoughts.I think a Sunday afternoon is a good time to sit down and lay out those thoughts so I can think about them some more, but this time in a collective manner. I hope I do not bore you with my thoughts. I often bore myself with them. But as you are the one receiving this letter, then I guess you are free to read or dispose of it. Either way, enclosed are my thoughts, so here they are. Perhaps they will give you something to think about. Or maybe you only think of them long enough to decide not to read them. That is good too.

On we go!

Isn’t it funny how much we think? It fascinates me especially to see what other people think, but I am not much of a prober-of-thoughts, for I know how private they can be, and I don’t want to scare people away by asking: Hey! What do you think about in the deep dark passages of your mind?

Nope. That’s silly. I’d prefer not to be creepy….my how I ramble!

Moving on!

So we have established the fact that we think a lot. This leads me to wonder: how much of our thoughts are truly worthy of our time? And how much of the concepts and ideas, dreams and fantasies that we conjure are below our human dignity?

Now, I know that may sound harsh at first, but if we examine it closely, maybe there’s some truth in it. We all carry the dignity of the human person: nothing and no one can take that away. However, people (and oftentimes we ourselves are the biggest factor in this one) can stain that dignity. Let’s put it this way: if you drop a diamond into a puddle of mudd, it will become dirty. But that dirt doesn’t make the jewel underneath any less valuable. It’s still a diamond. It’s just got a coat of filth covering its natural beauty.

What does this have to do with thoughts? Well…I’m going to liken our thoughts to reflections of our hearts. Looking at it from this perspective, all we have to do is discover what we spend the most time thinking about, or where we focus more of our concentration, and then we can learn a little something about that mysterious place that is our heart. We can ask ourselves: What do I hold most dear? What is most important to me? Where do my priorities lie? And then we can even delve deeper: What is it from my surroundings that seeps into the depths of my being? How does it affect me, for better or for worse? What within my soul do I feel, to which the material world numbs me? What image do I set as one of perfection, and how do I strive to attain it? Is it something I should attain, or do I need to rearrange those secrets which I hold so closely to my heart?

So where should I direct my thoughts?

    This is the path that I’ve somehow found myself on this past week. The path of thoughts, of thinking, and of thinking about thoughts. These are the questions that arise, but I ask them more to myself, then to challenge you. It would be rather frightening to see what my heart looks like. I can’t help but wonder whether my thoughts polish or tarnish it. 

    But what a blessing are our thoughts! What a blessing our hearts, and our minds, and our souls! What a grace! What a grace…

    We are loved beyond measure. And I hope that one day, I will have so arranged my own heart and mind, so that my soul sings nothing but the praises of God. Such a task is impossible with His grace, but I am confident that He will bestow it to me. I am not confident, however, that I will accept it, for I am a weak creature. So I pray He will grant me the grace to accept it. I want to think of nothing but Him.

    I fall short though. Actually, short is an understatement. I fall FAR. That’s where my thoughts are. I can freely say this though, because I think that it will show just how great our God is! How low He stoops to receive us, but nothing is too low with love. What humility! What love! It’s incomprehensible, and yet it draws you. 

    I fear that I am wandering, and if I carry on, we will have discussed everything within and beyond the scope of thoughts. But thoughts were my original topic, so I suppose I ought to return there.

    Hm…Thoughts! I should think about them just a little more…

    I sign off with a laugh and an apology for rambling.

    A blessed Sunday and a blessed week that follows!