Mind Your Own Business

Today my husband and I had lunch at a little neighborhood cafe'.  It was so pleasant out we decided to sit on the patio with our meal.  For once, we noticed how no one seated there had an overly loud voice that dominated the patio (usually there's someone in the vicinity who seems to think what she is talking about should be of concern to everyone within earshot).  We enjoyed the music, the breeze, the meal.  Thinking back on it now, as I've considered again the directive in I Thessalonians 4:11 to mind your own business, I realize that more than a few of my thoughts during our meal were on things that should have been absolutely no concern of mine.  For instance, I noticed the table manners of a woman across the way and considered them boorish.  I thought about why some people choose to wear strongly scented colognes which intrude on others (someone was wearing a particular fragrance I dislike today).  I observed two older women come in and thought their clothes were very pretty, but probably expensive.  A young teenage girl chewed with her mouth open.  Yes, I noticed and judged quite a bit in that hour I sat there with my delicious hummus salad, warm pita bread, and loving husband.  How little did my thoughts toward others reflect the thoughts of their Creator toward them?

David writes in Psalm 40:5 that the thoughts of God toward us cannot be recounted; they are more than can be numbered.  Again, in Psalm 139, David declares:  "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!"  Bravely, he concludes in verses 23-24:  "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

What is it to me if a young lady at the next table hasn't yet become self-aware enough yet to realize she is being less than polite at the dinner table or if someone else's idea of a pleasing scent is different than mine?  How many times have I exhibited less than perfect manners or worn a perfume that someone else found distasteful?  Thank God that His thoughts are higher than mine - He has much more wonderful things to concern Himself with than whether or not my fashion choices match up with current opinion on what a 40-something woman should wear.  Things like the fact that at that cafe', in that area that seats about 28 people, there were in that hour 19 patrons and two wait staff - that's 21 souls.  I know for certain that two of them are saved.  There were 19 left I could have prayed for.  Had my thoughts been in line with God's, that's what I would have done.

The quiet life includes minding your own business.  Today, take an inventory of your thought life.  How often are your thoughts focused on other people and what are you thinking about them?  Consider how much of your mental and emotional energy is taken up by thinking about things that really aren't your concern and by focusing on and judging others when you have no real right to.  Then determine to align your thoughts toward others with the thoughts of God toward them.  You'll notice a difference in yourself, I promise you.  And, while sitting up straight is proper wherever you are, the posture of humility you'll assume before the Creator when you do this will be pleasing in His sight.  That's what matters, after all.