Brene Brown shared a story of a POW survivor who said the first to die were the optimists. These were the “pie on the sky” people who believed freedom would happen by Christmas. Once they lost hope, they were the first to die.

Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor, believed those who gave hope and love to others found the will to live even in heartache and suffering. They were honest about the trauma but chose an attitude of gratitude and a will to love others.

I consider this in light of the Henri Nouwen quote in my daily devotional.

Henri writes, “An optimist says, “The war will be over; your wounds will be healed; the depression will go away; all will be better soon.” The optimist may be right, but unfortunately he or she may be wrong. For none of us can control our circumstances.

No, hope does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world anymore than does faith. Nor does hope depend on the ups and downs of our life’s particulars.

Hope, rather, has to do with God. We have hope and joy in our faith because we believe that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world… We follow One who is not limited or defeated by the world’s sufferings.”

I know Dad had to fight through this understanding. He could not self manufacture peace, or joy or even love as loving as he was.

He can to understand these are gifts. They are fruit. Just as the farmer cannot force the apple to grow but can merely by faith create the environment for the plant to bear fruit, so we come to God with open hearts.

I consider the state of my heart. Is it a place for Christ’s love and light to dwell?

Am I optimistic because I want a certain outcome, or am I hopeful because my hope is in God and I trust Him for the outcome?

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3:14-19

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