Disappointments

At certain times in life, it seems like we spend a lot of time on a street called “Disappointments” that  may occur one right after the other. Once I think I am over one disappointment, here comes another. What’s going on?  A tag team or something?  Disappointments come when our expectations, spoken, understood and/or assumed, are not met. Seemingly within seconds of a commitment, people undue the commitment for various reasons. The best thing I can do to ease the effects of disappointments is adjust my expectations as much as possible. If there is a thorough understanding of who will do what, when, where, how and their limitations, this will curve the emotional roller coaster when disappointments occur.

Accepting things as they are is another way to deal with disappointments. Some things and some people are not going to change; and if they do, it probably won’t be when you or I want change. I found that when I consistently embrace the words of the Serenity Prayer, disappointments are not as devastating. Now, there are times, not matter how much I do to adjust myself, a disappointment will come out of no where. There were no signs or warnings. I may have done what I could to adjust my expectations, but the unexpected happens. I just simply cast the disappointment on the Lord.  Because of I Peter 5:7, I am assured that He cares about any and everything I care about. In addition to casting that care on Him, I must forgive the one who has caused the disappointment.

The last tidbit about disappointments - I’ve focused on disappointments with others, but in reality, we can be disappointed with ourselves. We can say and do things that are disappointing. I can raise both of my hands on this one. I have responded to circumstance in ways I thought was “mature”. When the truth of my heart was revealed and opened to the Holy Spirit’s scrutiny, I was disappointed that I behaved or responded in an immature way and I say to myself, “Could I have done better? Acted more mature?” Many times the answer is “YES”, but I did not. We all tend to have a high expectation for ourselves and when we fall short of the self-expectation, we become disappointed. Guess what, we even have to forgive ourselves.

We are all on a good journey with Christ.  So, let’s make a critical decision to learn from life and keep moving.  Don’t get stuck on the street called “DISAPPOINTMENTS”.


Blog post adapted from The Encouragement Newsletter - "The D's of Life".

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