Learning Optimism
On the road to happily ever after
It was supposed to be the culmination of 10 months of learning and effort.
But that’s not quite the way it went down.
Last December my oldest child got her driver’s permit. (Don’t even ask me how she’s old enough for that to have occurred. I have no idea.) Since then, we’ve made a habit of instruction. Giving her regular stints behind the wheel and lots of verbal pointers while she rides along as a passenger. She’s studied the manual, taken practice tests and demonstrated the responsibility my husband and I required for her test for the license.
The big day finally arrived.
Necessarily Negative
Was Jesus an optimist or a pessimist?
Surely He was an optimist, right? After all… isn’t that the more “desirable” of the two possibilities? Being God and all, He must have been whatever is considered superior. Our American culture values the extravert and the optimist. And there’s a Christian sub-culture that teaches that all Christians should be optimists. (“Because of the hope that we have…”)
But I don’t think so. Rather, I contend that Jesus was the one and only person who could be a dead-center realist. Read More
Whatsoever things are true /troo/
Some say truth is relative.
I’m counting on them being wrong. If it’s relative, then not only is my salvation in jeopardy, but my mental state is, too.
My theme verse for this series is Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,think on these things. — Philippians 4:8 ASV (emphasis added) Read More
Or….
Sometimes you just need someone else to see it for you.
Pessimists need optimists. (And I’m thinking the converse is true, too… more on that later.) I need the optimists in my life as counterbalance to my natural pessimism. In many ways, I think this is the ministry of the Body: that what my eyes don’t naturally see, another’s do. Twice in the last couple of weeks I’ve been the beneficiary of my friends’ perspectives:
- Pessimist (me): “I’m a little bummed. Only thirty ladies signed up for my Bible study. About 50 signed up for the other one currently being offered.” (Subtext: they must not like me.)
- Optimist (Julie): “Or, you could rejoice that 80 women are studying the Bible this fall…” Read More
Let’s do lunch
I pack school lunches every. single. morning.
And I have for nearly ten years now. Last week, as I stood in my kitchen, staring down at the empty lunch boxes on my kitchen counter, I got a little grumpy about having to do it again. “I’m so over making lunches.” But, I cobbled together a collection of leftovers, juice pouches, baby carrots and the cursory apple and sent my people on their way.
Just a couple hours later, I stood at the stainless gates that are my refrigerator and bemoaned that there was nothing I’d like to eat. Nevertheless, I rummaged through and found something to throw in my gullet. Read More
The Bright Side
Q: When is the bright side not the right side?
A: When it’s the left side.
A few years ago I shared my comedic shopping travesty with you. My brush with fitting room fame was a direct result of weakness in my left shoulder. Since that time, I’ve had surgery, gone through rehab and made reasonable weight training part of my regular routine. (I blame P90X for my original injury. Sorta.) Read More
Thinkin’ and thinkin’
Does God even care how I think?
This daily writing challenge has just begun and I’m already questioning whether there’s value and purpose in it. Case in point, my friends: I am a pessimist. I’m not really commenting on whether He’s interested in the content of my thoughts as much I’m wondering whether my “cognitive defaults” are of any consequence in His eyes. In short, does whether I’m an optimist or pessimist even matter to God?
I’m going with yes. Yes, He cares about our thoughts and perspectives. (And if God cares about them, I’m pretty sure I should too.) Our thinking shapes our actions and our feelings. Our thought patterns guide the way we engage with both God and others. Romans 12 indicates that new thinking is part of becoming a new person: Read More
Think on these things: A 31 day series on learning optimism
I am a pessimist. 
There. I said it. It may not make me popular, but it’s true. This “glass half full” way of going through life isn’t something I chose; some of my earliest memories and childhood decisions were couched in it. It colors my every day as an adult. Not in a paralyzing fashion, mind you, but it affects me nonetheless.
pessimism – an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome
If this was my natural inclination, then did God appoint it to me? Like introversion and extroversion, is there a place for pessimism within the Christian Body? I think it’s possible and will explore that idea more fully later in the series. Yet the hope that we have as Christians — because of our salvation and the certainty of heaven — should buoy and encourage even the most despondent of pessimists.
To that end, I’m embarking on a 31 day writing series called “Think on these things: Learning optimism”. Over the course of October, I’ll post some daily thoughts on this topic, inspired partly by Philippians 4: Read More