After Thought

Have you ever considered the connotations of an “after thought”? What it really implies? "It is something or even someone that did not play prominently in your thinking, something that just happened to be brought back to your mind (at the last minute), after you have done everything else of importance; a post script, as it were."

When it comes to dealing with people, no one likes to be thought of as an “after thought”. It is painfully cutting to the ego; it makes you feel as if you just don’t count; or as if you have no value in the eyes of the one who does it. You are definitely not seeing any love!

Recently, I had some relatives come to town. Admittedly, they did not come to see me or my husband, although we are biologically related. They had come to see other relatives who were more closely related. They stayed in town about a week. They hung out with the other members of the family and then, when they had completed their trip and was on their way back home, (literally in route), they decided to call and announce that they would be stopping by to say “good-bye”. “Good-bye”! I mused to myself. “They haven’t even had the decency to say, ‘hello’. ” I was a little upset, but I dared not say anything to my husband, because he would have thought that I was making too much of a thing. However, I was feeling a great deal like an “after thought”. As far as I was concerned, they could have kept on moving down the road, and never to have let us know that they were in town. I would have been alright with that.

I recalled how my husband and I, along with some other relatives, had spent considerable funds to go and visit these people, in the past. How we had spent hours on the road traveling, with them as our prime goal. Thoughts of how one of them calls at all times of hideous hours, sometimes waking us up, just to chat! My thoughts drew up times when we had gone out of our way to especially prepare meals for them, complete with dessert, when they had called ahead and said that they were coming into town, but would be staying elsewhere. Then there were other times when all of the family members had gotten together for a reunion, when they had come and we all simply enjoyed ourselves. But for them to come into town, and not even let us know anything about their activities; for them to spend an entire week, without inviting us up to where they were staying (even for a short while); for them to make no arrangements to visit in route home for at least an hour or so, was unacceptable! I resented being made an “after thought”. How dare they just show up at will, without us having an opportunity to properly prepare for them, really rocked my world.

Then the lesson kicked in: Although we are never an “after thought” with Jesus; we are continually on His mind, and the Scriptures declare in Hebrews 7:25, “…He ever lives to make intercession for us…”, which means that He takes our confessed sins and casts them away from us: they are hidden from the Father. Also, Isaiah 49:16 says, “Look, on my palms I’ve inscribed you;…” (CEB) Common English Bible; which means that our names were written in the palms of His hands at Calvary in the permanent marker called Love and by the prints made from the nails.  Yet, He promised to come again, like a “thief in the night”. Similarly to the relatives, who only called ahead, while in route, and we didn’t have time to prepare to entertain them, likewise, Jesus will come. He has called via the Scriptures and given us multiple signs to watch for, which indicate how soon He will arrive. Therefore, we must, “be ye also ready, for such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man comes.”

I was humbled by those thoughts; we are “always” to be ready for the coming of the Lord. When He comes, there will not be time to prepare. Consequently, this experience was a great reminder; an awesome lesson regarding readiness and the soon return of our Lord. With Him, I am never an “after thought” regardless to how I fall short.  Therefore, I had to dismiss the bad thoughts that I had had toward my relatives and instead, praise God for the wonderful little life lesson reminder. Hallelujah! 

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