Saturday, May 10, 2008

Common Cents- Guest Blogger Glen Bryant


I found a dime on the ground the other day and it got me thinking…cents and sense…two words that sound the same but are completely different…or are they? Let’s see. Common sense is something that you hopefully gain more of as you go through life. Dollars and cents is also something you hopefully gain more of as you go through life. What else? You use common sense every day. You use dollars and cents every day. OK. If you don’t have common sense, life can get pretty ruff. If you don’t have dollars and cents…well, you get the picture. It seems there are some similarities.

What about the differences? Using common sense can help you have more dollars and cents, but I don’t think you can use dollars and cents to buy more common sense. (In fact sometimes it seems like the more cents people have the less sense they have.) Common sense you can use over and over again, dollars and cents are gone once they are used. No one can steal your common sense, but they can certainly steal your dollars and cents.

Now I know I’ve already said one thing that is debatable. Do people really use common sense every day? What effects whether we use it or not? Do you think it’s possible that there are circumstances or objects that can block the flow of common sense? I think there might be. My research shows that being in a car can block the flow of common sense. My first car I bought in High School had this blocking effect. So when I was racing a friend of mine and wrecked into him, the lack of common sense, cost me some dollars and cents. In fact, every day I see evidence that being in a car can completely block the flow of common sense. I also have first hand experience that proves that using alcohol or drugs blocks the flow of common sense, and in fact can completely eradicate any sign of it.

I think the biggest problem is though, that we just don’t practice it enough, and we make conscious choices to not use it. I think we have all said at one point or other “I knew I shouldn’t have done that”. Common sense gets in the way of us doing what we want to do, or what’s best or easiest or most fun for us. Even though I can’t think of a circumstance where using it has turned out bad, it’s just not always the most attractive way to go. So who cares, right? God does. Read the book of Proverbs. If you read Proverbs and don’t get that God is urging us to use the gift of common sense (or wisdom), then you’re just not wanting to see it. Here’s one of my favorites…

Proverbs 27:12(NIV), “The prudent see danger and take refuge; but the simple keep going and suffer for it”

I spent most of my life in the second half of this verse, but now that I’m doing my best to focus on the first part…life’s getting better for me. It’s a daily workout though. It’s not easy, but it’s turning out to be more valuable than all the dollars and cents in the world. In fact the more I focus on God’s will for my life, and using His wisdom, the more peaceful and joyful my life becomes. I’ve even had a couple of pretty rotten things happen to me lately and been able to rest in the peace that God has given me…comfortably.

Anyway, what really got me thinking the most wasn’t finding the dime, but that at the end of the day I almost lost it again when I was carrying my work clothes out to my car. You see if I hadn’t been paying attention I would have lost the cents I gained that day, and it made me wonder…if I’m not paying attention is it just as easy to lose the sense that I’ve have? I know this much…if you could save up common sense and put it in an account when you don’t use it, like we save dollars and cents if we don’t spend it…I would have enough sense saved to last the rest of my life and to leave a large inheritance…but I think I’ll try to spend it before I go.

By Glen Bryant

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