The Strange Gift of Disappointment

I woke up this morning to a disappointment. Snow was supposed to cover the hillsides outside the windows of my cozy home. Snow is rare on the Central Coast of California, but all weather reports were promising the rare event. It didn't happen.

Am I crying in my coffee? Perhaps a little—at least I have coffee to cry in. I’m also challenged to admit my disappointment and move on. Too much wallowing in the sadness of a promised joy unfulfilled does not move me forward into the things God has promised me.

Eliza Tabor said, “Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.”

I’m not sure how disappointment can strengthen, temper, and intensify my soul, but I’m musing to find out. I’m sure it has something to do with my attitude and the fact that this little disappointment is nothing compared to the ones that really suck the life out of us. I’ve had my share of heavy disappointments, and I've learned that my response in the minor ones exhibit how much maturity I'll display during the heavy ones.

A noble soul named Jeremiah said, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5 NIV).

By the time you read this on Monday, I will have processed my disappointment before the Lord and begun the process of becoming a noble soul. I intend to compete with horses, and I will be prepared when I find myself in the thickets—that’s my goal. What’s yours?

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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