Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Thought-ful or Thought-less

If a person is not thoughtful, does that mean they are thoughtless? And are there degrees of thoughfulness and thoughtlessness?

I have been pondering that first question for a few days now, which led to the second question (and subsequently the following questions).

I believe that there are some people who are thoughtless and don't even realize it. As well, there are definitely thoughtless people who know they are and don't care. Would you call them both thoughtless? Or is it that thoughtless and knowing it become selfishness? Are they one and the same?

I decided to look up the definitions in the dictionary:

Thoughtful - adjective - showing consideration for others; considerate
Thoughtless - adjective - lacking in consideration for others; inconsiderate; tactless; devoid of or lacking capacity for thought.

After reading those definitions, I decided to look up the word "thought:"
Thought - noun - the product of mental activity; that which one thinks; a single act or product of thinking

I don't have any answers or conclusions. I just seem to create more questions for myself. I think too much anyway...what does that mean? Doesn't mean I'm thoughtful or thoughtless. Ha! In fact, it has gotten me thinking. Am I a thoughtful or a thoughtless person? Can you be both? I can be thoughtful and not act on it, so does that count? Or is that worse than being thoughtless? I often have good intentions and think of many nice or good things I can do for others, but don't act upon them.

I don't want to be thoughtless. I think that requires actively pursuing being thoughtful. Although some people seem to be thoughtful without having to think about it. Is that something that comes naturally to them? Or does it become more natural the more you do it?

What causes thoughtfulness? Is it love, that deep down, I know how much love and grace has been shown to me through Jesus Christ, type love that inspires thoughtfulness? And is it that sinful, human nature that causes thoughtlessness? Is it complacency? Is it my natural tendency to think only of myself?  I know at least for me it will take effort and not allowing complacency to invade and indeed to be constantly reminded of the grace shown to me to encourage me to be more thoughtful and not to let myself slip into thoughtlessness.

Hmmmm...so many questions and so much to ponder.

2 comments:

Christine said...

You are one of the most thoughtful people I know.

domesticjoys said...

I think one of the biggest parts of being thoughtful, is following through on what you think of. So often it is by God's promptings and ideas that we are ever even able to be thoughtful of another. It then takes discipline on our part to live out the "great idea."

I think it is also being vulnerable enough to offer the help, say the encouraging word, buy the gift... It is so easy to try to "protect" ourselves and not go out on the line. But, vulnerability is really a part of thoughtfulness.

Just my thoughts on the matter : )

Love the post thanks for getting me thinking!