All’s right with the world  November 2008

By Woodeene Koenig-Bricker

The lark's on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn;

God's in his heaven--

All's right with the world.—Robert Browning

Not too long ago, someone said that I must have been born an optimist.  After I stopped choking on my coffee (decaf, extra cream,) I assured them that if anything I was born a pessimist.  Given my natural inclinations, I don’t see a glass as “half full,” but “almost empty.”  Or at least I did most of my life. Over the past three or four years, I’ve changed.  I stopped looking for and assuming the worst and gradually began expecting good.  Now I anticipate the best—at least now and then.

It didn’t happened overnight.  It was the result…and still is…of concentrated daily prayer and effort. 

It all began when, in the midst of bemoaning my misfortunes, real and imagined, that a friend told me my life would be much better if I would “Take every thought captive.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Stop thinking about negative things and fill your mind with positive ideas,” she said as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
“I can’t do that.  The negative thoughts just come.  How do you stop thinking?” I pressed.

“Try it,” she urged.  “Whenever you have a negative thought, replace it with a positive one.”

I was sure she was crazy, but since she is one of the happiest, most encouraging people I know, despite having had her share of tragedies including the death of a child to cancer, financial difficulties, and marital problems, to name only a few, I decided she might be onto something. So, whenever I would feel that old familiar darkness creeping into my soul, I would stop, take a deep breath and think of something I was thankful for. 

That was the twist I put on her advice.  I didn’t have any idea how to think a positive thought when I was in the middle of negative ones, but I did know how to recall something I was grateful for, even if it was just the fact that I was alive to think. 

At first, the “positive” made as much difference as a raindrop in a river. But I persisted; time and again, I would check myself when I was being pessimistic, replacing those thoughts with gratitude, even if the thankfulness lasted only a few seconds.

I didn’t realize that the extent of the change until I was accused of being an optimist. By taking my thoughts captive, I actually had become a more positive, hopeful and hope-filled person.

It amazed me then and it still does. 

So what does this have to do with spirituality at work?

Right now we are in the midst of what experts tell us is the worst economic situation since the Great Depression.  People are deeply afraid for their future and many are on the verge of panic.  If we join in the general alarm, what does that say about our faith? If you want to make a real difference in the lives of people you serve, if you want to demonstrate your faith, if you want to show that being a Christian means you have confidence in the ultimate goodness, then start by taking your thoughts captive. Focus on what is good and right in the world and watch goodness and righteousness begin to increase.  By refusing to give in to the negative, you not only affirm the positive, but you actually give the Holy Spirit ground in which to sow seeds of virtue, faith and yes, hope.  What greater work can any of us do than to give hope to a world mired in hopelessness?

Incidentally, Robert Browning’s quote at the beginning of this column is from his dramatic work, Pippa’s Passes.  Despite the cheery tone of its most famous lines, the poem is actually about an orphan who encounters evil, degradation and poverty, only to end up expressing her confidence in ultimate goodness.

 This month, take Pippa’s advice. Look, not at the Dow or prime interest rate or rising inflation, but at the lark and the thorn and know that God is still in his heaven and all’s right with the world.