Optimism Squared has Moved and Become Live and Learn

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July 17, 2009. Uncategorized. Leave a comment.

There Is A God and I’m Not Him

I have abundant opportunities to serve in my life.  Much of that service is remarkably rewarding with observable, pleasant and even miraculous results.  It is easy to begin to pat myself on the back and admire all the good I am doing.  It is easy to forget that God is the reason for the power, enjoyment and success of such service.  The credit and glory belong to Him.  I get to have joy in my service, but as for satisfaction or credit, I deserve none.

Because of the abundance of service opportunities, I also have conflicting activities and when left to myself to prioritize, I always botch the job and leave someone out, or offended.  The frequency of scheduling conflicts is helpful in reminding me that true service must be done under the direction of God and not by my best planning efforts.

While planning and scheduling have their place, they are inherently flawed because there are always unexpected events in our lives.  Events that only God can anticipate and orchestrate.  Let me share with you a recent example.

I conduct a 12 Step program for youth in our community.  The meetings are just getting started and so far we’ve only had one young woman attending.  Last week I encountered a conflict.  As I can’t be in two places at once I had a tough decision to make.  After consulting with God, I chose in favor of the conflicting event, meaning I’d have to skip the 12 Step meeting.  I hated to do it, but felt strongly impressed that my choice was best.  At the time I might have been at the meeting, my other activity took me to a different location where, I stumbled upon the very girl who’d been attending our meetings.  We had an opportunity to converse and touch bases.  She had been in a bit of a rebellious moment and opted out, not only of the meeting, but other goals facilitating her recovery.  A few words of encouragement seem to have brought her back on course.  I believe God took me to where I was needed and put me in the right place at the right time.

I could not have possibly anticipated what was to transpire, but God could and did.  You might call it a coincedence but I know differently.

No amount of determination can substitute for the direct influence of God in our service.  Left unto myself, I’d have insisted on “doing the right thing” and attended that meeting.  Instead, I consulted God about my choice and He took me to the place He needed me to be.

Raising His children and bringing them home is His work and glory.  He allows us to be His servants in that process.  We can do that best by taking direction from Him.  While dutifully showing up at that meeting that day would have been commendable, it wouldn’t have been effective at all.  Why, because I am not God and it is His work, not mine.  If I allow Him, he can make me an instrument in His hands, but it remains His work and it is He who accomplishes it.  I just get to be there to speak His words, point Him out, and witness the miracles He works in the lives of His children.

It is so easy to convince ourselves we are doing the right thing and subsequently leave God out of the equation.  I know because I’ve done it far too often.  We get an opportunity or assignment, we get training or direction from others, we are full of determination to do it well and then we allow ourselves to become convinced that we know what we are doing.  I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t have the slightest idea about how to best serve God, unless I ask Him.  If I try to serve without being directed by God, I might as well pretend to be God.  I’ve done it and know first hand that it’s foolishness to even try.

May 11, 2009. Selfless Service. Leave a comment.

The Red Flag of Frustration

As time wears on and circumstances in life become increasingly difficult people, including myself, seem to be more and more frustrated.  Why is this?  Clearly, frustration comes of not getting what we want.  We have hopes, dreams, plans, desires and when circumstances fail to meet our expectations we get frustrated.  I think there is a reason for this.

The Book of Ether in The Book of Mormon explains very well that to which I refer.

The Jaredites appear to have been among those building the tower to get to Heaven.  Without over analyzing those circumstances, lets examine what happened to them.  They had what on the surface appears to have been a worthy desire; to get to Heaven.  As rediculous as it seems, they appear to have been persuaded that they could actually work hard enough to accomplish that desire.  Some accounts make that ancient construction project out to be monumental, involving thousands and thousands of people.  In the end, though, God knowing the futiliy of their goal, frustrated their efforts by confounding their language.  Could it be that God is involved in our frustration as well?

I believe He is very much involved in frustrating us.  God has a plan for us.  In fact He has no other objective than to bring us home to dwell with Him and be given all that he has.  For behold, this is my awork and my bglory—to bring to pass the cimmortality and deternal elife of man.  (Moses 1:39) In other words, God is not involved in anything else!  He is not driving around Heaven in a pickup truck with a bumper sticker that says, I’d Rather Be Fishing!  However you feel about being in Heaven yourself and what you’d like to be occupied with while there, God makes it clear than He is entirely about bringing us home.

So why would He frustrate the Jaredite’s efforts to go home?  You know as well as I do.  Their approach wasn’t going to work.  So, in kindness, not vindictiveness, God stopped their project in hopes that they’d humble themselves enough to let Him show them they way that would work.  The Jaredites and quite possibly, others, made such a discovery.

Essentially, the Babelites, wanted life on their own terms.  I’m convinced that they’d been exposed to the way or plan of salvation, but they couldn’t trust in a Redeemer who hadn’t even been born yet, so they devised their own method.  It’s amazing how hard they worked to circumvent God’s plan.  But do we not do the same thing all the time?  Do we not attempt, agressively, to secure our futures by investing and purchasing insurance plans to provide security for ourselves in a world designed to be insecure so we will develop faith in Jesus Christ?  Is it any wonder that we are frustrated when the stock market crashes or our plans somehow fail?

The key to avoiding frustration is to yield our hearts and lives to God.  We need to quit seeking life on our own terms and start enjoying it on God’s.  He will grow and challenge us, it is true.  But even if His terms include some discomfort, they don’t include frustration if we have come to fully accept his will.  It is important to always remember that God’s plans are never frustrated in the grand scale only on the individual level, when we and other’s insist on having life on our own terms.

For me, frustration serves as a wonderful red flag which alerts me to fact that I have attempted to reclaim control of my life by taking back my will.  I’m free to do it.  And I’m afraid I still do it far too frequently.  I just know that when I surrender my will to God, which requires that I accept life on His terms, frustration disappears.  Try it for yourself.  Realize that the feeling of frustration only comes when we want life to turn out according to our plans rather than God’s.

March 19, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

Halting Between Two Opinions

(I wrote this last Summer and posted it elsewhere.  I think it is even more apropos today.)

I’ve been struggling a lot of late. Temptation has returned. While I have not fallen off the wagon I know I’ve some time since, managed to get on the wrong road. My blood pressure has been up and my anxiety levels high.

You need to understand that addiction is not what it seems. The outward manifestation, be it drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn, Twinkies, is just that, the symptom, but not the problem. The problem is something deeper and painful and quite possibly unidentified. I’ve been writing and pondering madly for days trying to identify the fork in the road that took me in the wrong direction.

Today, I was given my answer. I was writing, something I always do, to sort things out. I was expressing the dismay I’ve felt of late about my new job and my uncertain future. I’ve taken a job as a salesman. I have a lot of uncertainly as to the frequency and size of my paychecks. The economy troubles me. The price of fuel dismays me. My own inadequacy frightens me. I don’t know what the future brings and it gives me a great deal of anxiety. Then, a phrase of scripture came into my mind, “How long halt ye between two opinions..?” I had no idea where to find it, so I looked it up in the concordance. I found it in 1 Kings 18:21.

It was the story of Elijah’s famous contest with the priests of Baal during which God consumed Elijah’s offering with fire, while that of the false God did nothing. Elijah was calling upon Israel to make up their minds. Unlike Joshua who had earlier declared, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) It was inspirational and encouraging but I couldn’t see the answer that was before me. I was still stuck on the decision regarding my choice of employment. I couldn’t see how that could be a choice between God and Baal. Surely, I was choosing the Lord, wasn’t I?

Then another phrase of scripture passed through my mind, “Oh thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” I found that in Matthew 14:31. Here is the story of Jesus walking on the water. The phrase was the Saviour’s mild rebuke of Peter who, fearing the waves began to sink beneath them. I wasn’t too sure what this story meant for me, but I determined to find out.

At my new job I have made a new friend. He is Pastor of a local Landmark Baptist congregation. His specialty at Divinty School was Coyne Greek. My good friend has taught me that much can be gained from understanding the original Greek meanings of the words found in the New Testament. I just recently acquired Bullinger’s Lexicon of New Testament Greek.

I decided to look up the original meaning of the words in Matthew 14:31. Two words were most informative. I looked up faith and found that in this case the Greek word chosen had only been used four times in the New Testament and all by the Master himself. It has been translated into English as

‘of little faith’ and means: to rebuke four states of mind, viz., anxiety, fear, doubt and forgetfulness. I felt my searching was on the right track. I was full of fear, doubt and great anxiety. I didn’t yet comprehend forgetfulness. Then I looked up the word doubt. The definition of the original Greek word translated as doubt was this: to stand in two ways, being uncertain as to which to take. I was shocked, for it lead me right back to my first prompting, “How long halt ye between to opinions….?”

It was then that I realized what Heavenly Father has been trying to tell me. I am like Peter. I am figuratively walking on water. My struggles of late have come because I have taken my eye off my Master and have allowed myself to look at the boisterous waves of economic and political commotion that surround me. No wonder I have been sinking in despair!

This is not a new concept for me. I have long considered my ability to proceed through life entirely free of my addiction to be no less a miracle than walking on water. To the flesh, they are equally impossible. Yet day after day, I go forth, temptation free, to live a life of joy as though I had never been an addict. I was foundering and in need of rebuke for my forgetfulness. I had forgotten to whom I must look for my safety and salvation.

My struggles came because I had taken my eyes off of the Redeemer, who sustains me in recovery and had looked in fear at the turbulent chaos around me. They were prolonged because I supposed the fork in the road that was troubling me was whether or not to change employment. Instead, however, I discovered that the real decision was, is and always will be, whether or not to trust God and keep my attention focussed on Him.

My heart is led to these words given of Jehovah to Joshua, and all of Israel, including us: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9) Whithersoever – no matter where I go or what paths in life I choose, if I can but ignore the turmoil around me and trust in God, I will be sustained above the stream.

Like Peter, I called out to my Lord saying, “Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught” me. I felt the anxiety, fear and doubt drain out of me. I had been so stressed that I felt ill, but now I was renewed and refreshed.

March 3, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Repeatedly in the Book of Mormon we hear characters reminding themselves and others of the deliverance of their fathers as an anchor point upon which to build their faith and encourage their confidence.  That one story, of Moses and the children of Israel being delivered from bondage in Egypt, has stood for millennia as the quintessential instance of God’s willingness to help us with our problems and deliver us from our afflictions.  Both Jews and Christians lay claim to it, not only as part of their heritage, but as affirmation that God is with them in their endeavors.

It is interesting to me that those who forgot what God had done for their fathers faltered.  Those who remembered went forward with courage and optimism.  If they or their fellows felt faint of heart they would tell themselves the story again to bolster their hearts to face the unknown that lay before them.

We are no different.  It is interesting to note that when Moses approached the Children of Israel, having been freed by Pharaoh, the people were reluctant to go.  For them the choice wasn’t between bondage and freedom, it was between bondage and the unknown.  So it is with us.  We are prone to fear the unknown.  We tend to predict the worst and to fear what we’ve imagined.  The future appears dark and foreboding.  We become pessimists.  The story of the Exodus repeats itself over and over again in every life.  Almost daily, we face the unknown of the future and tend to fear it.  That is, unless we tell ourselves stories to the contrary.  Unless we remind ourselves that God will go before us and bear us up.

The scriptures are replete with such stories.  So is life.  The news, ordinarily is not.  A lot of how optimistic we feel comes of the kind of stories we tell ourselves.  Even more effective are the stories from our own lives.  Build optimism with stories from your own life and close family members.  These stories have more meaning because of the reality we can easily attribute to them.  My grandfather bought 30 head of dairy cattle during the Great Depression on a signature loan and paid for them in one year.  Telling myself that story helps me feel optimistic about what I can do during these troubled times.  This isn’t positive thinking.  This is faith building.  My grandfather attributed the success to God who, first inspired him to make such a bold move and second, opened the way for his success.

In my view true optimism can only be enjoyed when God is the fundamental element in the equation.  Without God’s direction and assistance what we might call optimism is mere wishful thinking.  We can think positively all day long, but if our thoughts lack God’s aprobation and grace the outcome will be entirely different.  It may or may not end in success.  But, even if it ends in success on our terms, it is likely to result in utter failure in God’s eyes.  The stories that build true optimism are stories of God’s goodness in our lives.  These stories are not restricted by apparent impossibilities, they are made wonderful because they are about emerging victorious against overwhelming odds.  Seek and tell yourself these stories.  Nephi did it!  So can we!

February 26, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

Faith is the Foundation of Optimism or Meet Joe Hapi

It was May of 1971.  I had three months left on my Mission to the Philippines.  I received a transfer to the Marikina/Pasig area.  I hoped to exit with a quiet cushy assignment.  Instead I was given a Greenie, made a District Leader and assigned to be Branch President of the Marikina/Pasig Branch.  I was overwhelmed until I met with the District President, then I was floored!

The District President informed me that a new building had been announced for Quezon City and that each Branch had an assignment to raise funds for the local portion of the cost of the building.

(I was so heavily occupied during this three months that these are the only months I failed to keep a journal.  For this reason I’m going to be vague about exact figures in my account of what happened.  I am also going to condense the story greatly.  Hopefully, the highlights will convey the miracle I am about to describe.”)

The District President assigned the Marikina/Pasig Branch a large number of pesos to raise.  And after making the assignment he added, ” We want it before you go home Elder.”  Did I tell you I was floored?  Understatement!

From there I met up with my new companion, Elder Joe Hapi.  Elder Hapi is a Maori from New Zealand.  He was the first foreigner to receive the David O. McKay scholarship.  Joe was twice captain of the Church College of New Zealand Rugby Team.  He’s large, robust, engaging, courageous, joyful and full of faith.  Elder Hapi arrived with the discussions memorized, the confidence of virtue and a profound testimony.  Elder Hapi hit the ground running!

Getting acquainted with a new Branch, learning so many new jobs, and getting everything organized had my head spinning for days.  Promptly, we organized a Branch Carnival hoping to raise a good chunk of the money.  It was well attended but didn’t yield 1% of what we needed.  I was just sick.  The average family in the Branch made ten pesos a week.  There was no way they could contribute anywhere near the required amount.

I was heart sick about it and expressed as much to Elder Hapi.  “I can’t do it!” I complained.  “You don’t have to,” was his response.  “God is able to do his own work,” he declared, in such a matter of fact tone that I just stared at him.

I’d had exposure to that kind of faith, but not in circumstances where it applied so directly to me and not at the feet of a mentor who manifest his faith in such a simple, forthright and confident manner.  He was sure and I knew it.

Day’s later we were out tracting and were invited in by a nice, middle aged man.  We asked him what he did for a living and he answered that he was a manager for the UTEX (professional) baskeball team.  Elder Hapi nudged me with an elbo.

“What?” I asked.

“Here it is.”

“Here’s what?”  (I didn’t get it.)  My companion, accepting my position as Senior Companion, asked for permission to take the lead.  I granted it, still confused.

“Would your basketball team consider playing an exhibition basketball game as a fund raiser to help build a church building in the area?” he asked.  Our new friend responded affirmatively, noting that the final decision wasn’t up to him.  He went to bat for us and acquired the go ahead.

We had a number of missionaries in the greater Manila area who regularly gathered on P-day to play ball.  Some had played college ball, others were High School stars.  Often they would arrange to play local college teams.  President Smith granted approval for the Elders to face UTEX.

We were able to rent a large arena, which supplied tickets enough to fill it.  I was beginning to think it might actually all come together.  Then, in rapid succession came three seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

First, the Philippine Basketball Association denied UTEX’s request to play an exhibition game.  To make matters even more impossible, the head of the PBA was a Catholic Priest from Ireland.  I am freaking out!  “What are we going to do?”  “We’ve already sold the tickets all over the city!”  The only hope I could think of was the immediate destruction of the island by a sudden eruption of Mt. Pinatubo!  Elder Hapi, calmly reminded me of 1 Nephi 3:7.  I didn’t get it.  He had to spell it out for me.  We needed to go meet the Priest.  Clueless, I asked, “What will we say?”  He didn’t know and didn’t care.  He was totally comfortable with “not knowing before hand” what we would say or do.  To make the story short our good friend the Priest, granted permission and sent us on our way saying, “Go with God, me boys, and tell ‘em a Jesuit sent you!”

Second, we discovered we would be in violation of the law if we held a fund raiser within 120 days of a National Election.  I was catching on.  We went to see the Philippines Election Commission.  Again, our way was miraculously opened before us.

Finally, there became a very real concern that anti-American sentiment could be agitated by this event, which could result in a very dangerous and ugly situation.  Again, Elder Hapi’s confidence and faith carried the day.  We went forward with assurance.  God had, time and again, guided our steps and cleared our path.  Indeed, God is able to do his own work.

That night at the commencement of the game, we presented the colors and a large block of foreign, mostly American, missionaries stood and proudly, boldly sang the Philippines National Anthem in Tagalog.  This completely dismissed the fear of anti-American demonstrations or activities at the event.  The entire crowd was moved by the Spirit they felt as we enjoyed those moments together.

We lost the game 78 to 87, placed dozens of Book of Mormons, had a wonderful event and raised more than enough money to reach our goal!

Each of us is given stewardships in this life.  God entrusts us with people and things to care for.  Elder Joe Hapi taught me that God is sure to provide the resources to properly care for those stewardships.  Seeing myself as a steward rather than an owner greatly facilitates my optimism.  When things look impossible, when the road ahead is dark and appears treacherous, I think of my Maori friend, trust in God and step forward with confidence.  Nothing is impossible for God and if I am on His errand I may proceed with a perfect brightness of hope, knowing God is fully able to do His own work.

I had not seen or heard from Joe for these many years since the summer of 1971, until this very week.  I found him on Facebook and we are in the process of reconnecting our lives.  I marvel at the impact one great man could have on my life in three short months.  He has been the yard stick against which I have measured my faith for all these years.  I will be forever grateful to know him.

February 19, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View, Selfless Service. Leave a comment.

Ten Reasons To Be Thankful

Reader’s Digest has a great little article designed to remind us that, despite what we hear on the news, there is a lot to be thankful for.  Take a few minutes and give yourself a boost!  Ten Reasons To Be Thankful!

February 9, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

A Depressed Sigmund Freud Learns Optimism

This is cute and entertaining…and begs a wonderful question – can optimism be learned?  I believe it can!

February 6, 2009. Tags: , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

It Is Easier To Be Optimisitic If We’re Prepared

February 5, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

Even On My Worst Day….

Life dishes out tough days.  Days when things just don’t go as planned.  Days when I’m tired, sick, sick and tired, hurt or suffer some setback.  But even on my worst day, I was blessed beyond measure!

The problem lies in not counting our blessings.  On my worst day I still had air to breathe, food to eat, a place to lay my head and people who loved me.  On my worst day I lived in a free land, complete with sacred liberties and privileges that relatively few, in the history of the world, have enjoyed.  On my worst day, the sun still rose and shed forth it’s warmth and light.  On my worst day I still had faith that God is in His Heaven and His Plan of Happiness was fully functioning in our lives.  On my worst day, if I was willing to see it, the good far outweighed the bad.

Now, you might imagine that my worst day must not have been all that bad.  Perhaps, but what of Viktor E. Frankl, could you say the same thing of him?  Kept prisoner in a German concentration camp for years, experimented upon, tortured, Viktor learned that, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  Despite hardship, pain, starvation, humiliation, Viktor learned to choose peace and joy for himself.  He realized that, “The last of human freedoms -(is) the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”  Any set of circumstances, mine, yours, even circumstances as awful as Viktor Frankl’s.

Mortality is fraught with entropy, the tendency of a system that is left to itself to descend into chaos.  We all experience it.  Nothing seems to be exempt.  Our bodies, our homes, our roads, our relationships, our neighborhoods and yes our attitudes all tend to descend into chaos.  That is, if they are left to themselves.  The only thing I’ve discovered that can reliably reverse or retard that downhill slide is work.  We seem to get it when it comes to our houses and our roads, less so when it comes to our bodies, and least commonly when it comes to our attitudes.

Optimism is a choice and requires work.  Pessimism is the default and is nothing more that attitude entropy.  Most of us who are pessimists are so because we are simply too darned lazy to be optimists.  If you feel pessimistic, get to work.  Educate yourself.  Apply yourself.  Count your blessings.  Get off your duff and repair the pot holes and leaky roofs of your attitude.  You can do it.  Then, even if everything else crumbles into chaos around you, you can find joy, hope and faith in the future.  Which brings us to a final quote from Viktor Frankl, “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.“  Vikor did it.  So can I.  So can you!

February 5, 2009. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Optimistic Point of View. Leave a comment.

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