The Courage to Be Optimistic

I was watching a new television show Wednesday evening.  One doctor was counseling another doctor to always provide some hope to each patient—even if it’s only a sliver of hope.  During the same show, a group of people in danger looked to their leader for solace.  He told them that everything was going to be fine and gave them hope that they would in fact survive another day. 

Optimism is really a courageous state of mind (Leadership Courage by David Cottrell).  The leader chooses to accept and make the best of difficult situations.  Refusing to engage in the all-too-often lament that “the sky is falling” takes courage. 

Optimism can increase energy and help your team focus on long-term goals.  It is certainly an important characteristic of effective leaders.  Effective leaders refuse to waste their energy worrying about things over which they have no control.  Their approach is more “What can we do to move forward?” versus “Why did this happen to us?” 

No, I’m not commending the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” approach to problem solving.  It’s just that worry can be so debilitating—and such a waste of time.  Someone once told me that worry could be likened to rocking in a rocking chair.  You can expend a lot of energy and get nowhere.  A research study some years ago asked people what worried them.  The researchers then tracked what happened to all these worries over time.  Here are some of the key findings: 

• 40% of the worries concerned things that never actually happened
• 30% of the worries concerned things from the past that could neither be changed nor otherwise influenced
• 12% were needless worries about health
• 10% were petty worries about unimportant things
• 8% of the worries actually concerned something substantial; but only half of them could be controlled and/or changed

From the world’s point of view, the best antidote to worry is action.  Action can be a good way to attack worry.  But I’m not sure it’s the best way.  I’m thinking that the best way to counteract worry is to trust the Lord.   

Proverbs 3:5-6   Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 

I can remember being very worried one time as a child.  Dad was driving.  Mom was sitting up front as well.  I was riding alone in the back seat of a 1956 Ford as we ground out the six-hour trip from western Pennsylvania to Charleston, West Virginia to visit my grandparents.  We were traveling on Route 2, a two-lane road that weaved its way down along the Ohio River.  It was night time and the weather was not cooperating.  Rain was pouring down in sheets and the lightning and thunder was so distracting we could hardly talk to one another.  The car’s windshield wipers were on high and I still couldn’t see much as I gazed out to see what, if any, obstacles lay ahead in our path.   

I told my dad I was worried, perhaps even scared about crashing in this foul weather.  He told me not to worry—he had everything under control.  That’s all I needed to hear.  My next memory is one of lying down on the backseat and drifting off to sleep.  My dad said everything was alright.  It didn’t look alright.  It didn’t sound alright.  And I didn’t feel alright.  But I trusted my dad—and that was that. 

Now I’m not about to fast forward forty-some years and tell you that I’ve met and defeated worry every time I’ve faced it.  But I must admit, the more I’ve gotten to know the Lord (from reading about Him, seeing Him in the lives of others, talking with Him through prayer), the more I trust Him.  And the more I trust Him, the less I worry. 

That being said, I still have to do something about those things that bother me—those things that I can do something about.  Remember the Serenity Prayer: 

God,  Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

(The Serenity Prayer is generally thought to have been written by Reinhold Niebuhr) 

There’s another saying I’ve heard (and tried to apply) over the years: Pray as if everything depends on God.  Work as if everything depends on you. 

So there is a time and a place for action as we combat worry.  But our actions need to be enveloped in prayer and bathed in the trust we have in the Person Who not only created us, but redeemed us. 

When you face your battles this week, will you have the courage to remain optimistic in the face of worrisome things?  Will you have the courage to admit that you need God’s help in all areas of your life, especially the ones you’re worried about?   

Perhaps it comes back to having a Life Mission and an eternal perspective.  Once those deep things in your life are settled, it makes it a lot easier to follow another motto: 

“Don’t sweat the small stuff – by the way, it’s all small stuff.” 

Matthew 6:31-34  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.   Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.

Have a great week!

Keith