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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman
Dealing
With Disappointment One of my long-time
friends often tells me that relationships are fragile.
I certainly agree with that.
I would only add that all of life is fragile, and with this
fragility comes things that disappoint.
It's all par for the course of life in this Age of Entropy, where
all things, even with careful maintenance and cultivation, will
eventually decay and die. It's
our ever-present reality since the events we read about in Genesis 3. The older I get the more
I realize that not all hopes, aspirations, and plans come to fruition.
This sounds depressing, but it's our reality.
To the degree, then, that you can accept this reality will be the
degree to which you can effectively survive failure, move on with life,
and be free from disabling discouragement.
I believe that the
apostle Paul, as powerful and godly a man as he was, experienced
disappointments. Look at
what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:8. "We do not want you
to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we
experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so
that we despaired of life itself." Despairing of being
alive suggests to me that Paul did experience disappointment. When he
penned these words his relationship with the Corinthian Christians was
more than fragile. It was
disappointedly broken. No matter the
disappointment, Paul never forsook his Lord-appointed mission.
Failed expectations were par for the course of life in this Age
of Entropy. Despite times of
despair, depression, and disappointment, Paul picked himself up from the
pit, dusted himself off, and in the power of the Spirit was motivated to
move on with his mission in life. Philippians
3:14 reads: "I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus." I'm not one to feel sorry for myself, but like everyone else, I've had my share of things that disappoint. I accept that such things are par for the course of life, and in part, that helps me deal with disappointment. Don Henley of the Eagles fame expressed this sentiment in his song entitled "The Cost Of Living." "It's the cost of living, and everyone pays."
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