September 22nd, 2026

Hi Friends,

What do you think about thinking?

Most people I know would say that they are in favour of it. You might even be one of them. So, tell me, how much time do you spend in mindless behaviours — watching or listening to “the news”; doom scrolling; diving down Youtube rabbit holes; playing games on your devices? How many conversations did you have in the last week that involved a deep, thought-provoking topic? When is the last time you did any (and I mean “any”) research about something you did not understand (no, “googling” an idea doesn’t count — unless you start checking and reading references)?

George MacDonald wrote of an intelligent, aristocratic young woman who had all the advantages of her day. She was sitting before a fireplace and had just finished reading a novel but was unsatisfied with the ending. MacDonald writes: “Indeed, Helen’s dissatisfaction went so far that, although the fire kept burning away in perfect contentment before her, she yet came nearer to truly thinking than she had ever in her life. Now thinking, especially to one who tries it for the first time, is seldom a comfortable operation, and hence Helen was very close to becoming actually uncomfortable. … Helen had supposed she could think because the thoughts of other people had passed through her quite regularly, leaving many a phantom conclusion behind. But this had been their thinking, not hers. … Whatever its cause, Helen was dimly aware that to be bored was to be out of harmony with something or other, and was thus almost on the verge of thinking. But she escaped falling directly into it by falling fast asleep instead.” (The Curate’s Awakening, pp. 15-16)

Thinking is hard work and, thus, it is avoided by most people. Thinking involves more than awareness; it requires data gathering, data verification, drawing conclusions (or at least a hypothesis) from the data; questioning that which is accepted without denying it or dismissing it on logical or evidential grounds. Thinking then puts the conclusion into a larger reality and tests it. But, my purpose today, is not to write a treatise on thought. That has been done many times over and with much more success than I would have.

My purpose is to point out a truth from a hard-to-translate passage in Proverbs 23. The New American Standard Bible seems to express it most clearly: “Do not eat the bread of a selfish person; or desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.” That selfish host may have offered delicacies to his guests but he didn’t want to do so. He begrudged them because he only thought about himself. 

The things you focus on are the things you become. If you think more about yourself than others, you become selfish. If you think more about serving than being served, you actually start serving others. If you think you must protect yourself, you will struggle perennially with faith in a God who claims that job. You get the point. There is a truth to the saying, “It’s all in your mind.” Give it some thought.

Blessings!

Doug