One thing that has been burning in my life has been thoughts. Not that I don't have thoughts, but I'm not quite sure how to use them when I have them. Looking back over my life, it has been my thoughts that got me into trouble. I just never learn.

I was finishing up a little project in my office, and I couldn't help but think about The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage's wonderful coconut cream pie. She makes a lot of pies, but this one has to be her best. It's been a long time since she baked a coconut cream pie.

Being a husband as long as I have been, over 50 years, I know it doesn't do any good for me to tell my wife what to do, particularly in the kitchen. My access to the kitchen has to be supervised by her.

How can I get her to bake her infamous and delicious coconut cream pie?

This thought took a whole bunch of other thoughts to come up with a good idea. I don't always come up with a good idea, but I thought I had done it this time. I needed to plant a thought in her mind concerning this coconut cream pie.

How I was going to do this demanded some more thought, then I came up with an idea.

We get spam callers about medicare benefits and my expiring auto warranty, so I come up with a little idea. The next time someone like this calls me, I will use it to plant a thought into my wife's head.

It didn't take long, and one of those spam calls came.

Somewhere in the conversation, they asked me a question, and I noticed The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage was in the next room within hearing distance.

I inserted into the conversation, "And my wife bakes the most delicious coconut cream pie I have ever eaten." I mentioned it several times in the conversation, hoping I had planted some thought in someone's mind.

The expiring car warranty call came, and I used that as an opportunity to say, "You should taste the amazing coconut cream pie that my wife bakes. You would love it."

I even used it when some friends called me. I would say, "Do you remember my wife's delicious coconut cream pie?"

This routine went on for a couple of weeks, and I hadn't noticed any difference with The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. I was beginning to feel that maybe my "sowing a thought" wasn't working. That thought in and of itself caused a little bit of despair on my side.

Giving this quite a bit of thought, I just couldn't come up with another scheme to entice her to bake coconut cream pie without knowing it was me.

I kept it up for several weeks, hoping that one little thought might take root. It was worth the trouble if I got one of her coconut cream pies at the end.

One day this past week, I had several appointments across town that would take up most of the day. So, I would be out of the house all that time, unable to sow any more thoughts.

It was a long and boring day, but finally, it was over, and I headed home. I pulled into the driveway, got out, and entered the house. As I entered, there was this familiar aroma that I really couldn't place at the time. It smelled delicious, but I didn't quite understand what it was.

My wife was in the kitchen, so I went into my office and sat at my desk to finish my day's task.

It wasn't long before The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage came to the doorway into my office with something in her hand. Then she said, "Look what I baked this morning. It's a coconut cream pie. For some reason, I kept thinking about my coconut cream pie I made a couple of years ago. I don't know why, but I just decided to bake this pie this morning." Then she smiled at me.

I smiled back at her and said, "When can I have a piece of that delicious pie?"

She brought me a piece, and I sat there enjoying every bite. I was beginning to think that my planting the thought would not work.

After finishing that pie, I began thinking, is this pie the result of me planting a thought, or did she just hear what I was saying and was trying to trick me?

I never will know which way it was. But then I got to thinking; maybe I will try this again to get my wife to do something in the future. I'm going to have to give this an awful lot of thought because it's very hard to fool The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.

Sometimes my thoughts get me into trouble and sometimes they don’t. I can never tell which way any of thoughts will go.

I thought about what David said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:22-24).

It is important for me to allow God to search me and know my thoughts and if there is any thing that offends God, I need to deal with regularly.

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