OPTIMISM? In this day and age?

I like to think of myself as a half-full glass kinda person. Yes, there are lots of not-so-good things still present in our lives… COVID refuses to vanish, bad people continue to do bad things, politics cannot seem to shake its ugliness, international tensions continue to rise and now, gas prices are rising again. All those things can bring a person down and can create a sense of helplessness or at least dampen a person’s optimism, if they have any left.

For me, I try to see the sunnier side of things… COVID is still here but we are better able to deal with it; the bad people are being dealt with a bit more quickly; politics, while still ugly, has a few new faces that give rise to the notion that bipartisan cooperation may still be possible; good international alliances are strengthening; and gas prices came down before and they will come down again. Ok… call me a Pollyanna.

If I just give up and tell myself that there is nothing I can do, then I be helpless and I don’t like that.

Therefore, I choose to be as positive as I can, work for a better community, region, country and world in whatever small way I can and keep looking for the positive where negative has become the norm.

Spring is springing … she hasn’t quite sprung yet. A few nasty spring storms have already been part of our early April weather. The perennials are showing up… as they always do. Like a perennial that overcomes the winds and storms and still blooms and grows… our church always seems able to overcome the storms that sometimes appear and then blossom in the sunlight of the future. In this Holy Week, when we remember the challenges Jesus endured and overcame, it is clear that He is with us now and into the future. We need not be afraid.

My optimism is on the rise that our church family will embrace The Sharing Table Project, see it as an opportunity to help set the priorities for our mission & ministry moving into the future. Let’s return to being together more often, and working together in the close and personal ways we used to. We can position our congregation for a meaningful and impactful future. There is so much we have done, and can do, if we continue doing it together.

I plan to be a full participant in the Bible Studies and other gatherings that are a part of The Sharing Table Project. I want to be part of the bright future of this wonderful congregation that thinks and acts beyond itself. I hope that others make that same decision to be a participant, and not a spectator, in shaping FPCV’s future.

Blessings to All this Holy Week.

Jim Hubbard