I love people who are confident. It isn’t that I buy into their hype; I find myself responding to their enthusiasm, vibrancy, and sense of eternal optimism. They seem to know where they are going. They seem to understand what lies ahead. They seem to have pulled their lives together. They exude assurance, trust, and hope. They have the walk that tells others of their journey, even before there is a sound. The “they” could be a man or woman, it isn’t their gender that makes a difference. Even the individuals with confidence based on arrogance have something to offer those around them.
New York is full of confident people. Incredible range of shapes, sizes, educations, current positions in the community, and backgrounds. From every imaginable walk of life comes people who are confident. As I watch, occasionally speak with, and on even rarer occasions briefly walk along side, I find myself generalizing about what they share in common.
Being confident isn’t related to being blind. The “best” see themselves and the communities in which they live with eyes wide open.
Being confident isn’t about manipulation, greed, and winning at all costs. Those who sustain confidence over time do it based on truth.
Confidence either comes with or from Hope. I have yet to met any confident person who doesn’t have a sense of optimism about the future. He or she loves being alive. They are looking forward to what might come while being fully present in the moment that is.
Not all confident people embrace God, the large majority embrace what God stands for. Community and family are always at the top.
Confidence founded on truth, God, and Hope lasts through life’s ups, downs, tragedies, and great moments. It seems founded on a sense of wonder.
Those with lasting confidence walk like they are from Zion. Remember, “no one in Zion will say, ‘I'm sick.’ Best of all, they'll all live guilt-free.” (Isaiah 33.24)
This potential within all; we are God’s children. God offers us the chance to life guilt-free.
