Stretch Assignment

I knew it would be a big commitment.

As part of leadership development, employees that have been identified as having great potential are given “stretch assignments” that put them in situations that will push the boundaries of their knowledge and skills. These experiences broaden their professional horizons and cultivate new traits, equipping them for the next steps in their career progression. Writing for thirty-one days on the same topic has been a such a stretch assignment for me. (Heck, just writing for 31 days straight was a stretch!) This goal seemed to sit barely on this side of the line between possible and impossible. Yet, here we are, thirty-one days and posts later. 

But this mission was about more than just logging 500-ish words a day for a month or trying to build my platform. My hope was that I’d learn a new perspective on life in general. A more positive one. I’ve chronicled my musings on Philippians 4:8 and the ways I’ve tried to engage with my world differently. I’m thankful for this journey; it’s taught me several things:

• While I (still) naturally see the negative, I’ve had to flex my puny optimistic muscle enough that I now routinely ask myself what the alternative viewpoints might be. I’m counting that as a a win! (Look, Ma: optimism!)
• I’ve come to see the value in a pessimistic perspective for its counterbalance to unbounded optimism. I no longer feel pressed to be perennially positive just because it’s more culturally accepted.
• Being forced to define my terms, I will sternly avow that faith and optimism are not one and the same.
• I see God’s design for the Body at work in this area of my life: multiple times over the course of the month, my perspective has been challenged, and buoyed, by the optimists in my life. And I’ve occasionally “switch hit” to play Tigger to another’s Eeyore.
• As I’ve heeded Paul’s instructions to think on better things, many distressing thoughts have been supplanted by much healthier ones.

All in all, good stuff, right?

Paul closes out this verse in Philippians with some “cover all” words:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. –Philippians 4:8 NIV (emphasis added)

The English language translations of these Greek words are sufficient for our understanding. They were intended by Paul to mean pretty much what we assume they do. It’s as if Paul is saying, “if you can’t think of anything true, noble, right, pure, lovely or admirable, just think of something worth thinking on.” Here is where our faith enters in… that even when nothing looks good on the surface, we can always find a reason to praise God. He is excellent. He is praiseworthy. Thinking on that doesn’t require any stretch at all.

[Tweet “When things don’t look great on the surface, look at God instead. #thinkonthesethings #write31days”]

When all else fails, God doesn’t. Amen?

This post is part of a 31 day series entitled “Think on these things: Learning optimism.” For a full catalog of all the posts, visit the first page in the series by clicking here.