The Realistic Optimist

​“My goal is 30 riders.” 

“Yeah, right,” I thought. At the time, our bus route was averaging anywhere from 1-6 riders per week. I knew my bus captain was a bit naive. There was no way. Did he not understand how this worked?

Three months later, 32 children piled out of our bus into the church building. The next week we had 32 children again. Over a year later, the route is still going strong!

We all have set goals, only to fall short time and time again. Disappointment creeps in and becomes hardened in in our minds the form of low expectancy. “There’s no way it will ever happen,” we think, “why bother?”. New Year's resolutions are forgotten, birthday goals go unaccomplished, and deadlines get missed. Where once we were optimistic, we now seem more pessimistic - even cynical. “We have to be realistic,” we tell ourselves. “The sky may be the limit, but it is still the limit. Get your head out of the clouds!” we tell people.

Um, no, actually, it isn’t. On May 26, 1961, President Kennedy made the goal of sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade. Maybe you didn’t know this, but the moon is a little bit beyond the sky. Yet, we went there.

The reason our goals are not accomplished is not because we are optimistic, but because we are lazy.
In order for Kennedy's dream to become a reality, huge allocations had to be dedicated to funding the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, and thousands of scientists had to put scores of hours into researching and testing the necessary technology.

Yes, we will all fail at some point, even if we do work hard. But when we fail, it’s not because our aspirations are out of touch with reality, but because they are out of touch with God’s Will. In reality, God can accomplish anything he wants to. Nothing is too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:17, 27). Jesus said that “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27, Luke 1:37, Matthew 19:26). If our goals are in God’s Will, then of course they are achievable.

But, God still asks us to do our part. We are supposed to be “Labourers together with God”. (1 Corinthians 3:9). Noah had to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14). Joshua had to fight the Canaanites (Joshua 6:2-3). David had to faithfully guard his sheep before he was prepared to face Goliath (1 Samuel 17:34-36). Joash had to fire the arrows - but because he had low expectations, he did not have complete victory (2 Kings 13:18-19). God is a “rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). God wants us to be diligent, to be committed.

Dreams do not remain dreams because they are wonderful dreams, but because the dreamers don’t get out of bed and get to work!