The Cockeyed Optimist

Matthew 6:19-23

         I've been accused of seeing a silver lining in everything. I am probably aligned quite well with that song from South Pacific, The Cockeyed Optimist.  Some people might think I am too stupid to see the truth, and that perhaps it's true "I hear the human race  Is fallin' on its face And hasn't very far to go". For all practical purposes, an easy argument could be made for all the bad in the world and there is always something one could complain about - but I don't. It isn't that I don't think anyone would listen as some say. It's simply that no matter what 'happens' in life, I believe life is fundamentally good and I see much more good than I see bad. The cockeyed optimist? perhaps.

            I am aware of what others might think but I have such a good and happy disposition about life and love that I honestly don't see much of the stuff that other people ruminate over, complain about and use as evidence that the world is falling on it's face.

             I see abundant love, coming and going, all around, from God to us, from within my family, between people at work every day. It's all around. It all may harken back to that statement about life being less about what happens to you and more about how you react to what happens around you.

             There is not need to complain, not because no one is listening but because there really is nothing to complain about. How blessed am I ? How blessed are we? The history of the faithful are filled with saints whose disposition was to find love and the fullness of humanity in situations that the world would judge as bad and even horrific. These people we often called saints, heroes and role models.

            I am none of those things but I have a leg up perhaps. I know how wonderful God's creation is. I can see the love all around. Can you?

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!