Good, Good Gifts
Right now, when I look at my life, I can confidently say I have a lot to be thankful for, and I have a lot to look forward to. In some way, I think I’ve always said or at least thought these things are true, but lately, I’m leaning into fully believing them in a way I haven’t before.
It’s been a journey to get to this point. The school of life taught me this: things will go wrong, just give it time. Logically, I know this is not technically true (nor is it a healthy way to live), but past trauma gave way to this exhausting thought pattern in which I constantly found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop or for things to get worse. I’ve always called these thoughts cautious optimism, my life coach calls them limiting beliefs, but whichever term you use, one thing is for sure - these thought patterns leave room for doubt (and take up the space meant for hope).
We’ve all been here in some way, shape, or form…right? We’ve been afraid to get our hopes up too high because what we hope for seems too lofty, and we might as well protect ourselves from a letdown. Here’s what I’m learning and holding more tightly these days: we don’t have to be cautiously optimistic when we have a God who loves us. Instead, we get to be optimistic, or enthusiastically optimistic for the over-achievers out there (but not blindly optimistic, that’s no good, either).
Cautious optimism says, “We think something good could happen, but it’s also just as likely that things will go wrong.” Optimism says, “We are hopeful for the future and confident that success and good things are coming, even if it looks a little different than I expected.”
We can look to scripture for more on this topic. When Jesus was teaching in Matthew 7:7-8, he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” He continues by talking about fathers in general, explaining they give their children good gifts (for example, when a child asks for bread, his father will not give the child a stone, he will give the child bread). Then, towards the end of Matthew 7:11, Jesus says, “…how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”
So, I pose this question to you: what are we really asking for when our optimism is cautious and our beliefs are limiting? We are asking for LESS than we truly hope for. If our Father is in the business of giving us what we ask for, we should stop placing limits on our asks. This is also probably where I need to say that we don’t get EVERYTHING we ask for - our Father gives good gifts, but not all we ask for is truly good for us, and there are things we don’t understand on this side of heaven. However, I’m here to propose that we let God place the limits for us rather than putting them in place for ourselves before we even ask.
I want to live like an optimist because I know I have a Father in heaven who gives good gifts - don’t you? As we prepare for the new year, let’s hold joy in one hand and optimism in the other, and let’s run boldly into the coming days, weeks, and months like children who know that good things are coming their way.
