Disappointment

Today's musings: Disappointment has its own particular sting, one that goes deep. Disappointments are what break your heart. They are what break mine, anyway. Sometimes I get sad over the silliest things, like when a random minor character in a movie has the ice cream fall off his cone onto the floor of the car. Sure, because of that he hits a dumpster which almost kills the main character which leads to boy meets girl and the rest of the movie; what of it? Did you hear what I said? His ICE CREAM fell on the FLOOR. He paid money for that ice cream cone and was looking forward to eating it, but he now can't. That is just so sad to me.

Today was like dropping ice cream. Or like wearing a new pair of leggings, tripping on the sidewalk at recess, and ripping a huge hole in one knee which makes the leggings unwearable after that. (Yes, that one did happen to me, and yes, it still makes me sad.) The specifics don't matter; today life is just...not fair. And sometimes, not fair really hurts. I know I'll be okay; that's part of what makes disappointment so unbearable. It doesn't last and usually the things that disappoint you are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. But at this moment? I'm still sad.

One of my favorite hymns is "Be Still My Soul" and one of my very favorite lines is in the third verse:

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

It makes me think about this season and why we celebrate. We don't just celebrate because Christ was born; we celebrate because He overcame everything to help us through our disappointments. Because of Him, disappointment will someday be gone, no matter how stinging it is in the moment. Even though I need to be sad today, I know my hurts won't last, and that is something that I am truly grateful for.