Blue Skies

I consider myself a cynical optimist. It's a strange mix, I know.

On the one hand I am a very hopeful person with a positive worldview. My theology is very optmistic. I love what Wolfhart Pannenberg said, that God is the power of the future.

On the other hand, I'm pretty cynical. I've been disappointed enough times to be dubious about getting my hopes up about much.

Yesterday at Vintage, we had a time of silence in our worship gathering. I had just spoken very optimistically about how the silence allows us to hear God. During the time of silence, I was struggling with my own cynical self-talk.

In this, for me, typically paradoxical moment, I was standing by the back door, looking out the window. And it was as if God drew my attention to the beautiful blue skies above.

Blue skies have this way of brightening our mood without us even realizing it. They capture our imaginations as we try to make shapes in the clouds floating through them. They symbolize that today is going to be a good day.

Too often, I am "blue skies" about everything but what is happening in my life. I got a sense yesterday that God was calling me to a better version of myself, one that is less cynical and more hopeful.

God has interesting timing.


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

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