…but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.

Isaiah 40:31a

I was at a workshop last week, and the presenter started off by asking how many in the room were “glass half-empty” people. Without thinking, my hand shot into the air. I’d answered the question decisively, but I spent the rest of the workshop distracted. It seemed my subconscious mind knew something the rest of me was just learning about myself.

I’m a pessimist.

Now when did that happen? As a kid, I was an idealist, optimistic to a fault. But somewhere around the way, probably right after college, it’s as if I was suddenly introduced to the real world. Through some difficult life lessons, I learned that bad things do happen to good people. That entropy was slowly breaking everything down into pieces. That life wasn’t all about story book endings.

I guess I’ve taken that kind of mindset into my faith life, too. I’m sad to say it, but I spend a considerable amount of time worrying that the Kingdom of God isn’t breaking into this world as much as it should be. I spend even more time worrying that I just don’t have enough faith to make a difference in the world.

I worry about the state of The Church, the state of the world, and my own state of mind. I fear for the worst. And I can’t help but wonder…

Can you be a pessimist and still be a Christian?

Church leaders call this having a “scarcity mindset” instead of a mindset of abundance. At my worst, I’m guilty as charged. I’m extremely gifted at coming up with 101 ways something probably won’t work: Not enough people, not enough resources, not enough energy..

What’s interesting to me is that, with all that half-empty thinking I do, I still try. In spite of what seems at times to be insurmountable odds, I still try. That’s got to count for something. Maybe that young boy’s dream of a world of possibilities is still inside me, trying to get out.

Perhaps the best a pessimist like me can do is to hope against all hope. Even if things look scarce, or even dire, the Holy Spirit encourages me to press on. Maybe that makes me more of a realist than a pessimist. Maybe there is, as Isaiah says, a renewed strength that comes when we choose to hope, even in the face of obstacles.

It turns out, I don’t want to be a pessimist. So, it’s something I’m working on. But I doubt I’ll ever be able to completely eliminate the negative thinking that sometimes clouds my mind.

Part of why I write these devotions is because it is a place where I express my hope. Do you have a place like that? Even if you’re a pessimist with a capital P, I invite you to carve out some space in your life to indulge in a little hope. It’s more powerful than some of us remember it to be.

Can you be a pessimist and still be a Christian?

I sincerely hope so.

Have a great week,

Mitch