DISAPPOINTMENT
November 7th, 2021 – Communion Meditation
Whenever I have the opportunity to plan something to share with others, I try to notice what the Holy Spirit is doing or saying to me in the middle of my ordinary circumstances. This week I experienced several disappointments in my life. It got me thinking about the word “disappointment”, and the longer I thought about it, the more I noticed sub-words contained within the actual letters. But first, a definition – “Disappointment” is defined as “sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.”
The first three letters, DIS, are more than a prefix – DIS is a word that means “to criticize”. How many times have we encountered a disappointment and responded with critical thoughts or even critical words? We may find ourselves criticizing God, ourselves, an authority, a loved one, a stranger, the universe, life itself. “That’s not fair!” “Why is this happening to me?” “Ugh!”
I am sorry to tell you that one of the disappointments that came my way this week caused me to be a bit of a SAP (a fool) because I allowed it to SAP or rob me of strength, hope, and joy in that particular situation.
Sometimes when we’re disappointed, we just want to veg out on some kind of APP. I’ve done that with Facebook, YouTube, Angry Birds, Candy Crush, even NY Times Crosswords. An app may not be inherently good or evil, but if we turn to it for comfort when we’re disappointed, it won’t exactly relieve us of our negative feelings. It will probably leave us feeling unfulfilled and a bit numbed out.
Sometimes a disappointment helps POINT us to something in our hearts or minds that the Lord wants to heal. After all, if we are sad or displeased because our hopes or expectations were unfulfilled, then perhaps it’s because we were aiming at something less than God’s highest and best. It all boils down to trust – are we willing to trust in Father God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, who loves us perfectly and completely and is sovereign over ALL of the circumstances of our lives?
It took me wading through all of those other words to realize that in the middle of all of our disappointments is the invitation to an APPOINTMENT with God. Our disappointments tend to come to us as unpleasant surprises. But God is never surprised. He allows all of the circumstances of our lives, often for reasons that are not made clear to us. What would it look like for us to reframe our thinking in our current disappointments, to realize that God is inviting us to a very particular appointment, an intimate meeting with Him? He is with us in all of our disappointments, and He is good!
(pray)
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took the bread and said, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Again, Jesus took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
