60 Seconds – Pessimists

A professional communicator was invited to speak to a group of company businessmen about pessimism. He tacked up a large sheet of white paper. Then, he made a black spot on the paper with his ink pen, and asked a man on the front row what he saw. The man promptly replied, “A black spot.” The speaker then asked all present what they saw. All replied, “A black spot.” That was what he expected. With calm and deliberate emphasis, he said, “Yes, there is a black spot, but none of you saw the big sheet of white paper. That’s my speech. We see what we look for.”

In Philippians 4:8, we are admonished against pessimism by meditating on things that are “noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.” An advertising executive compiled a list of pessimistic phrases guaranteed to create discouragement over any endeavor:

“Might be better, if…”
“I like it – it’s just that…”
“See your point, but…”
“Let’s look at it this way.”
“Our procedure is…”
“Yes, but…”
“No, but…”
“Maybe, but…”

In Matthew, chapter nine, even after witnessing Christ feeding thousands with a small amount of food, His disciples were still doubtful and pessimistic. . He asked them, “Do you not perceive, nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see?” D. L. Moody related, “A friend of mine told me years ago that his wife was very fond of painting, but that for a long time he never could see any beauty in her paintings. They all looked like a daub to him.

One day his eyes troubled him, and he went to see an ophthalmologist. The doctor looked in amazement at him, and said, ‘You have what we call short eye and a long eye, and that makes everything a blur.’ He gave him some glasses for his problem, and he could see clearly. Then he understood why it was that his wife was so carried away with art. He went and built an art gallery, and filled it full of beautiful things, because everything looked so beautiful after his eyes were straightened out.”

“Pessimist: One who is seasick during the whole voyage of life.”