Faith Venture

Reading through the Proverbs gives those of us trying to walk that path of wisdom a sense of optimism. We are with God and God is with us as we live that sort of life.

A news item in todays feed reported an increase of American consumer confidence (after a year of almost all good economic news). The reporter added a caveat—these are opinion polls and Republicans (this year) might be reluctant to say things are getting better at the risk of saying the Democrats were right. I imagine if the roles were reversed, so would be the opinions.

On the other hand, media stokes fear about dangers of artificial intelligence. There is more violence in the Middle East. The war in the Ukraine continues killing or wounding hundreds of Russian soldiers every day while destroying cities and towns. China is (as we say in diplomatic circles) saber rattling about its intentions in Taiwan. How can we be optimistic?

Or as Barry McGuire sang the PF Sloan song in 1965 (all this is hardly new)

[Chorus]

And you tell me over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction

[Verse 3]

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’

I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’

I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation

Handful of senators don’t pass legislation

And marches alone can’t bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin’

This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

But to live a sane daily life, we need some optimism. 

Eve of Destruction, PF Sloan recorded by Barry McGuire

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, who lived and died in the worst of times in Germany: 

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy. 

An essential human trait is to “claim the future”, especially for those who live the with-God life. The time is ripe for us to grab this stance.

This entry was posted on January 3, 2024 at 11:28 am and is filed under Attitude, Disciplines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.