Forget Your ‘Good Thoughts,’ Send Us Your Prayers
GUEST COLUMN
During my wife’s prolonged illness, in addition to many prayers from friends and relatives, she has been the recipient of occasional “good thoughts” sent her way. Sometimes they are even “warm and caring thoughts,” which is evidently a step up from merely “good.”
Prayers we encourage and appreciate, since they tap into the divine. But “good thoughts,” while sounding nice, are simply that. Nice.
Little did I realize how much traffic in good thoughts there is these days. The Internet and greeting-card companies are awash in good thoughts, those that are sent and those that are solicited. Books and articles on sending good thoughts abound. Among other things, you can buy “Sending Good Thoughts” coffee mugs, T-shirts, CDs, and refrigerator magnets. Oprah is very big on good thoughts.
For religious liberals, who to their satisfaction have pretty well cleansed Christianity of any traces of the supernatural, good thoughts are about all they have left. Those who belong to various shades of the New Age movement, being of one “universal mind,” also exchange a lot of good thoughts.
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During the entire period of my wife's ailment, we received not a single telephone call, e-mail, or note from our clergy, let alone a visit or Holy Communion.