Financial
Tip Of The Week: Pay Attention
Enjoying
a casual evening at home, I reclined in my favorite easy
chair reading, while the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage
was chatting on the telephone. I rarely pay attention to
telephone conversations. After all, I only get one side
of the conversation, which may be misleading at the very
best. I’ve been caught in that trap before with some
pretty dire consequences. I’m not going to get caught
again, if I can help it.
Then an odd phrase caught my attention: “plastic
surgery.” My ears perked up and I heard my wife say,
“I certainly agree with that article and I’m
going to do some plastic surgery myself.”
Well, you can imagine what thoughts were racing through
my head. When she hung up the telephone, I queried her about
it.
In my book, plastic surgery is a big step.
“You do support me in this plastic surgery plan,
don’t you?”
There are times to disagree with your spouse, but as a
husband for over 35 years, I have never discovered that
time. Forcing a smile, I nodded in the affirmative and told
her she had my full support in whatever she decided.
I had to admit that the “time” had finally
come to our humble abode. Who am I to fight it? I go by
this motto, “He who smiles and agrees with his spouse
lives to smile another day.”
I plan to smile until the day I die.
I never really thought about plastic surgery, but perhaps
my wife was right. Perhaps she could use a little face-lift.
For me to get a facelift, the surgeons would need a huge
construction crane. Then comes the awkward part, what do
they do with my face after it was lifted?
Women, more than men, are a little sensitive about their
appearance. For a man, “appearance” means he
showed up. A woman has an altogether different approach
to the term “appearance.”
Some women look in the mirror and see where some improvements
could be made. For example, they see bags under their eyes
that couldn’t get through the airport carry-on luggage
size requirement.
Then there is the problem with their nose, which could
stand a little tweaking. For all practical purposes, one
of those double chins has to go. Moreover, what woman couldn’t
use a tummy tuck and other snipping of the flesh?
Believe me; I never would have brought it up, but if that
makes my wife happy, then whatever it costs, we can put
it on a credit card. The only problem with putting something
like this on a credit card is that by the time you pay it
off you need another procedure.
But, she’s worth it in my checkbook. I have no compunction
whatsoever of writing out that check.
Each day I checked the appointment calendar hanging on
our refrigerator to find out when she would be going in
for the surgery. Day after day, I looked, but could never
find any appointment.
I supposed she was a little sensitive about the whole thing
and did not want it staring at her day after day on the
appointment calendar. Whatever the reason, she had my silent
support, for all it was worth. I’m sure she would
do the same for me. That’s what marriage is all about.
Supporting one another in the developments of life, whatever
that development might be.
I decided to tuck this little bit in the back of my mind
and, however it developed would be all right with me.
One day this week, I went to the Slurp N’ Burp Café
for a quiet lunch. The issue was far from my mind as I enjoyed
a delicious lunch. As I finished my last cup of coffee,
the waitress brought my bill and I pulled my wallet out
to pay for it.
In searching my wallet for a credit card I discovered,
much to my chagrin, that there were no credit cards to be
found. Somehow, I’d lost my credit cards. Perhaps,
in the morning when I was getting dressed, they dropped
out of my wallet as I was placing it into my trousers.
The problem with that theory was that all the other cards
in my wallet were intact.
Fortunately, I had my cell phone and called my wife.
“Honey, I’ve lost all my credit cards. I’m
here at the restaurant and I can’t find any credit
cards in my wallet. Do you have any idea what I did with
my credit cards?”
“I cut them all up.”
“You did what?”
“You said you supported my plastic surgery plan,
didn’t you?”
“But, I thought...”
“You, thought what?”
Oh boy.
Dear reader: please disregard the first part of this column.
If you happen to read my obituary in next week’s newspaper,
you will know that my lovely, vivacious, eternally youthful
wife did not disregard the first part and I’m currently
Resting In Pieces.
I must confess that my hearing is good; it is my understanding
that falls so far short. The only exercise I’m really
good at is “jumping-to-conclusions.”
This is common among many people who call themselves Christians.
Their hearing is good but their “doing,” is
not up to par.
The apostle James understood this truth quite well. He
writes, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves” James 1:22 (KJV).
It’s not so much what you hear that pays dividends
in life, but what you do.
by James
Snyder
|
