Walking the path

(2-minute read)

“Are you going to wear that?”

Every husband knows that this is not a question. Also, like every good husband, I know to reject the first two responses that come to mind.

I went with, “No, I just threw on these highly inappropriate clothes just so I could come out and say, ‘I love you.’ Now I’m going to go back to the bedroom and change into the far more appropriate clothes I’m actually going to wear.”

She laughed. I guess I got enough sarcasm out of my voice.

As I approached the bedroom, she asked, “Do you have a nicer shirt?”

That was another non-question. She was actually trying to be helpful. The shirt I was wearing was showing off my recent rash of nonstop eating. The problem was the situation reminded me of when I was a kid, and my mother would send me back to my room to change into something more appropriate for school.

Since I was a kid, I’ve spent many years learning to control what I say. I have spent far less time trying to control what I think. Most of us have occasional thoughts that are selfish, unkind, or just downright mean. Some of these come from years ago learning to react to a situation, but we aren’t that person anymore. Like everyone else, I’ve been warned that the devil can put a thought in your mind.

To keep things simple, I blame all unwanted thoughts on the devil. There is far less guilt that way. I imagine the devil saying, “Why are you always picking on me. You think this stuff up even before I have a chance to put it in your head. That’s what’s wrong with you humans; you’re always looking for someone else to blame.”

Most inappropriate thoughts are not reality. I’m not that person anymore. As I bring my thoughts under control, I become more of the person I want to be.