Disappointment
Disappointment, you rear your
ugly head from time to time. But why?
Why do we let ourselves be disappointed? There are times when we can’t control
what disappoints us, like a rainy day when we had plans to hang the sheets out
on the line. At other times we are disappointed in ourselves. We don’t act the
way we should, we don’t treat others as we would want to be treated, and we are
not living a life that is upstanding. And then there are times when others disappoint
us.
Why does it hurt so badly when
others disappoint us? Is it because we’ve let them into our lives so closely
that any nasty or perverse thing that they do we take to heart? Like they are
doing it on purpose to hurt you? Do we shield our lives and the lives of those
we love from disappointment? Sometimes I
wish so. Is there a way of doing that? I
think not. This has been troublesome to me of late.
I see the world in which we live
as a disappointment. We live in a world
where there is hunger, we live among the homeless and think not of what their
needs are, and we live in a place where sick people hurt small children and
aren’t shocked at what they have done. We have become a society where anything
goes and we turn a blind eye to injustice, pain and suffering. What have we become? Our children are being
raised in an uncaring world. Will they be so hardened that they will no longer
care about their neighbors?
Jesus said let not your heart be
troubled. That is the answer to disappointment. Why? Because Jesus also says
that His peace is given to you. Why then do we pray for peace? Well, some of us
do. Jesus is our peace and He has sent a Comforter because He will not leave us
comfortless.
Disappointment does not need to
enter into our lives because we have the Comforter. When men deceive us,
disappoint us, anger us, hate us, envy us or bring sadness to our front door we
must remember that Jesus has sent us the Comforter. Set your eyes upon Jesus, not on man. Man
will disappoint you at every turn but our Father will never leave us.
Is this a smug and curt answer
to disappointment? Nope, it’s just a fact. Our Father is watching over us, no
matter which way we turn or which way we let ourselves be turned.
Disappointment is a part of our
lives. How we respond to it depends on us. We can crawl in our beds and cover
up our heads but it will still be there, lurking to bring us down. Just knowing
that there is One that will not disappoint us is a great Comfort.
