Hopeless Optimist – Can it be good?

I am a hopeless optimist.  There I said it.  Now I feel better.  Yes, I know it’s an oxymoron.  But it’s true.  The older I get the more I realize that I am created to function in the giftings I have.  I am an optimist.  Let me rephrase that, I am annoyingly optimistic. (This is the term my daughters have coined.) I can be listening to the saddest story anyone could tell and all I can think of, is the bright side.  I might spout out all the good things I can think and that makes me feel better after having heard such sad stuff, but does it help the other person? Sometimes, yes, it helps to see a different perspective.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  In fact, occasionally it’s frustrating to the other person who believes I have just made light of the fact they are hurting or going through a struggle.

As humans we had to learn the good and difficult parts of our personality.  Being an optimist is great!  Always being able to see good is a gift.  Timing in how I deliver this “good” I see is the part I am constantly working on.

Proverbs 27:9 says “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.”

I want to bring joy to my friends and family.  I want my words to be a gift to others.  When the days come, and I realize I have been annoyingly optimistic with my friends or one of my daughters I need to remember that I do have a gift, but I need to cautiously extend my perspective. Today my friend might want only a listening ear or a genuine hug.  She may not want or be ready for a new perspective.

Today, my prayer is;

Abba, thank you for creating me to see another perspective.  Thank you that you know my desire to help those around me.  Let me be quick to listen, discerning the hurt and need – slow to speak, when/if words are necessary – and slow to become angry, if my words aren’t received the way I intended.  Use me to bring joy to those I am in contact with.