Skip to main content

Smarty Pants



“Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.”

Merry Browne


No one is more surprised than me when I realize I’m not all that smart at times. On my recent trip to the mall to shop for end-of-summer discounted 70 percent clothing, I learned something about myself. I thought I was buying clothes; but I was developing an open mind!

I always thought I was too large to wear white pants so I never bought them. When I was visiting my sister in Chicago, she looked stunning in them and we are the same size. I found a $40 pair reduced to $8 and had to try them on. They looked great and were nice and long for my tall frame. I bought them!

Preconceived ideas are haunting. I cringe at the times they wiggle themselves into my personal Bible studies. How arrogant to think I know what a passage is all about because it is familiar to me. Sometimes I forget that God’s Word is alive and full of power and can change me unlike any other written concepts.

I heard a great sermon about marriage last Sunday taught by our husband & wife pastoral team. What leaped out at me in their presentation was “Listen to your spouse with your heart and not your head.” Sometimes we hear our spouse through filters of anger, rejection or some other emotion. Oh, my! I can think of times that preconceived ideas kept me from hearing what my husband was saying. I would think to myself “yeah, I’ve heard that before; you will never change.” Talk about a defeatist attitude!

I smiled when I put my new white pants on a hanger and hung them up in my clothes closet next to a row of black slacks and dark blue jeans. The “White Pants Victory” is just the beginning. With the Lord’s help, I hope to be victorious in these other areas, too!




This post links to On Your Heart Tuesdays.

Comments

  1. a joyful noiseSeptember 19, 2011 at 10:55 PM

    Enjoy your white pants !! They will go with just about any color blouse and - - what a bargain they were!! God is so good to help us shop. He plans these little details to surprise us and cause us to be happy. I rejoice when he does this for me, and I rejoice with you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmySeptember 20, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    What a wonderful reminder. Sometimes those preconceived notions run so deep that I don't even notice they're there until someone points it out.

    And I love the rose picture at the top of your post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/September 20, 2011 at 12:36 PM

    I love this so much Mary, that I just might go and buy some white pants!!

    What a great way to make such a valid point.

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. mountain mamaSeptember 20, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    i totally get this. i always have preconceived notions AND very high expectations...sigh.

    i enjoyed my visit here, thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. PeggySeptember 20, 2011 at 5:06 PM

    You go, girl! Congratulations on your white pants victory! That inspires me to look for more victories in my life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mevely317September 20, 2011 at 6:45 PM

    You GO, girl! :)))
    I need to remember that part about listening with my heart, not my head and welcome a surprise or two!

    ReplyDelete
  7. CarrieSeptember 20, 2011 at 8:01 PM

    Great post, Mom. Now the real question is: Is wearing white pants after Labor Day a preconceived idea or is that for real?? :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just Be RealSeptember 21, 2011 at 3:28 AM

    A ha! Great reminder. Thank you for sharing on this dear one.....blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ShandaSeptember 21, 2011 at 9:52 PM

    This was all so true. Thank you for the comment about listening to our spouses with our hearts instead of our heads. I'm going to try to put this one into action.

    ReplyDelete
  10. lioneagleOctober 15, 2011 at 4:35 AM

    Hi Mary -

    You go, lady of GOD, with your white pants on. Glad you were delivered from that bondage.

    GOD is in everything - even the tiniest details. Isn't that so wonderful and comforting?!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Venomous Intruder

It’s the middle of rattlesnake season here on the ranch.  The local news anchor confirmed it.   I’ve seen two already.    While driving along our dirt road yesterday, I mistook a virulent enemy for a branch. I backed up the car, looked again and noticed the branch shifted revealing a rattle at its end. At one of our road association meetings in the barn, Shelby stood up and shouted, “ BOB !” to my next door neighbor.  He’s our vice president and the one all eyes were on as he gave a presentation in the middle of the room.  I sensed fear in the way she yelled his name.  I learned after the meeting that Shelby called out to him like that because she saw a rattler slither in the barn door where she and I sat.  Bob yielded to the interruption and quietly dispatched the enemy.  Ten minutes later, this tough guy was back to center stage falling right back in step with the business at hand.   Bob is my new best friend. ...
42 comments
Read more

Let's Live Together

I took a Ziploc bag of frozen pork chops out of the freezer and set them in the refrigerator to thaw.  I decided to make one of my favorite crock pot recipes with them.  I threatened the husband with a black eye if he ate the last of the sour cream because I needed it for that simple recipe. The next day, I carried my crock pot to my island in the kitchen and mixed the sour cream with an envelope of onion soup mix and decided to rinse the defrosted meat at the sink before adding to my recipe.  Then I noticed something. They weren’t pork chops.  To my surprise, I witnessed defrosted chicken thighs.  Very big chicken thighs; it must have been a hippy chicken.  The freezer bag’s label read Dec. ’15 in the husband’s writing.  I assumed it contained pork chops.  I was wrong. Write it like a man. Thinking like a man would think, he probably guessed that any fool could see these are chicken thighs when he placed them in a clear gal...
29 comments
Read more

Marriage Tip #44: Do What He Wants

I thought about our upcoming anniversary.   I prayed one morning for the marriages in my family, and a sentence about my own dropped in my spirit:  “ Do What He Wants .”  I paused, “Really?”  He’s his own man.  What if I end up in the wilderness camping by night and target shooting by day?  What if a coyote decides to have me as a late night snack? We celebrated our anniversary early this year, Before the kids come next week.   And we did it his way . This is how it happened. I never asked him about a plan or even mentioned our day.  I remember how it all unfolded at the roundabout just as we drove into Sedona.  He asked me if I would like to go to a baseball game.  I responded excitedly, “Yeah!”  Before the day was over, he purchased tickets for a Diamondbacks home game. He printed them out.  He booked a hotel room so we wouldn’t have to drive home from the city after the late evening game. ...
44 comments
Read more