Isaiah 28: 10, 2 Peter 1: 3

Glyn Barrett

I am an optimist. It is who I have chosen to be and it is the way I have chosen to look at life. A pessimist is someone who is always focusing on the wrong thing. An optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole! Pessimists are an incredible breed; they are someone who, when given the choice of two evils, they choose both! They are the sort of person who feels bad when they feel good, for fear of feeling worse when they feel better! Pessimists never get disappointed because they never get their hopes up! Someone once said to me that 'a pessimist is an optimist with experience' but having said that it is never the pessimist who sails to uncharted lands, or makes great discoveries, or who takes the human imagination and spirit to a whole new realm! I'm almost certain it was an optimist who invented the plane and a pessimist who invented the parachute. However an optimist is someone who is hopeful and positive about future outcomes.

The word 'optimism' comes from the French world meaning the 'best thing.' I love this thought - imagine living life for the 'best thing.' Imagine thinking as a single person 'I'm going to marry the best person' and going through life thinking 'I'm going to have the best job' and when you go on your holidays thinking 'I'm going to have the best holiday.' What a brilliant way to live! Yes, I admit, thinking 'optimistically' may set me up to be disappointed occasionally, but I'd rather raise the bar of my expectations to see growth and expansion in my life, at the risk of being disappointed, then never believing to see greater things to come!

The Bible talks so much about the need for us to live optimistically. Call it what you like, maybe in church you have heard it worded as 'faithful' but I like to call it 'optimism.' I believe that as Christians, we should not only live inspired lives, but optimistic lives!

Having said all of that, the reality is that sometimes it's not always easy.

Here's what I have learnt in life. When you set off to pursue a dream, it isn't long before you come to realise that life is not always easy. It might be when you hit an obstacle, or a challenge, but many of us will have been faced with a thought like 'why is life never easy?'

When I was a kid I used to love riding my bike, I remember that when I was riding down hill, it was easy! When you're at the top of the hill you have that excitement as you look forward and think 'this is going to be a great ride!'

Sometimes our dreams can be like that; we start out standing on top of a hill looking forward in life thinking, 'this is going to be great' and maybe thinking that, 'this is going to be a great job,' or 'a great marriage,' or 'a fantastic house'. Your thoughts are fuelled by your view. So, like riding a bike you start riding downhill, it's fantastic and it's pretty easy. However, what I learnt from my cycling days is before you get to the bottom of the hill, you better start peddling because after the bottom there is another hill! The unfortunate thing is, in order to get to the top of the next hill you have to go up. I don't think it is pessimistic to know that sometimes on the journey of life you go uphill. I've discovered that you can be optimistic and you can be faith filled but you still have to realise that sometimes this life has to go uphill. It was David that said in the Bible, 'Even when I walk though the VALLEY of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.' This is the same David that the Bible says had a heart after God and yet even he realised that it is not always easy, sometimes there is an uphill.

I believe that God is calling us to live lives of inspiration and optimism. Yet my thought for today comes from this question - why is it that when people go through hard times they end up stepping into negativity? You can HEAR when people around you have made that step - their language changes! All of a sudden the person who was once so bright and optimistic now has reached a difficult time and their language changes from faith filled to a language of difficulties, problems and pessimism.

The will of God for you is this, Isaiah 28: 10 'for it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule a little here, a little there.' I love this verse, as it shows that God isn't committed to you just falling into your promised land, he is committed to the journey, the process of building and shaping who you are - do and do, rule on rule, a little here little there!

Maybe your life isn't what you want it to be, maybe it isn't yet what you saw when you stood on the hilltop; but this is what God says to you about your life - do and do, rule on rule, a little here little there. You see, we want our lives to be how we dreamt they would be, we want everything now, but God is committed to the journey of getting us there.

An optimist knows that which will be, will also be postponed - an optimist knows that what is promised will come to pass, it may be postponed but it's on its way. That day is coming, bit by bit and little by little.

2 Peter 1: 3 says 'Through His divine power He has given us everything we need for life and godliness.'

God's promise to us is that He has already placed in us everything we need. The person God has ordained you to be is already in you and His promise is to draw it out, at the right time, over our life's journey with Him. Whether today you find yourself on a hilltop, or free wheeling or maybe peddling as fast as you can, know that God is with you and he is committed to not only your promised land, but also your journey!