Post 350- Eternal Optimist

I have been doing some thinking lately about the course my life has gone over so far. Many of the adventures, turns, excitements and for some even frustrations has really helped shaped a general understanding of life, people, spirituality & even the future. I believe that people are a constant change, a catalyst for society, as long as they allow themselves to.

So with that i want to share a curse i have upon me. I believe this cursed struck my soul around my sophmore year of high school. But like a really good manipulative curse it doesn't really bring its components to the surface until later in life. The curse i have in my life is I am an eternal optimist.

No really it is true. For example working with teenagers i don't view them as irresponsible, selfish, disrespecting & immature people. I see them as living beings wrestling with the changes in life trying to find their role in this world & as they find that role they can give more health and life to this world than any other generation.

Need another one? What happens when most people see a homeless person? They judge them for wasting life, being a mooch, drinking/using drugs to put themselves in that position. Then they get mad at them for wanting a handout. You know what i see, I see a person that has a story to share. One that would teach everyone something about the sanctity of life. I believe that person needs a little encouragement and what they could do to inspire others to turn their life around would create such a chain reaction that it woud overwhelm the majority of the world.

You see this curse allows me to enjoy the world of youth ministry even more. I mean when you ask a group of teens to not skateboard on the preschool walkway and they all turn around, flip you off, tell you to go %#@ yourself and then as they hop a fence to walk away you think that one day they will value the idea of someone loving them unconditionally & helping them become an amazing leader as a young adult.

Or it allows me to look at the runaway child who "swears" they won't do it again and that they "really do want your help". It allows me to treat them with trust and respect knowing that they really can turn their life around & i want to be on their side when it happens.

I believe this curse of eternal optimism is the best curse anyone could have. Yes this means i will probably be burned by people, maybe one or two will stab me in the back. It may even mean that i am looked at as the "sucker who got played" but really does it matter? If my heart for people, as a living creation who are created at the core to reflect God & change the world with a message of faith, hope & love, if my heart allows me to breathe that message into the people i interact with, what is wrong with that?

I am grateful the curse or blessing or gift. However you want to look at it, there is no difference in what it does. It always me to be able to help change this world to know that God loves it dearly- or at least i pray that is what my life is doing!