Despite disappointment as an experience I want to avoid, it can drive me upwards and onwards. Sometimes it’s a little like seeing dominoes fall after one leads the way, leaving nothing more to happen except to consider the heap of the black and white mess. I sometimes say, “What else can go wrong?” Feelings of ‘I wish I had of’, or maybe ‘if I’d done this or that’, or even ‘why’d I bother with this anyway’ fight for recognition in my already on-hold mind. It takes a while to get over the disappointment and sometimes it takes more energy to begin again.How many people travelled to Florida to take in the Daytona 500, only to get rained out? Know anybody who went to a winter resort this winter and wished they’d bought rain coats on the first day. A book, you saw on the shelf one day, all at once disappears when you go to get it. You sleep in and the automatic coffee perk doesn’t turn on or you miss an important appointment that’s been marked on the calendar for a month. You get a rejection letter from a publisher that’s totally missed your point. Or you get a conditional acceptance of your book proposal that requests scads more work. Disappointment, feelings of inadequacy, frustration or fear that you just can’t raise the bar seems to frame your mind in capital letters.
Sometimes when life just does not unfold the way you plan, it’s helpful to remember that ‘it ain’t over 'til it’s over’. Kids on American Idol suffer such disappointment, and yet you can almost see that gleam in their eye, behind all those tears, that next year may be different. Writers who don’t give up, have discovered there’s always a different way to write the same thought that is more meaningful. And is it possible that whenever a disappointment causes you to reflect, that a new and perhaps more interesting and inventive way awaits you.
Perhaps disappointment and courage should go hand-in-hand. Disappointment is inevitable and courage in its midst gives you the tenacity to move ahead and not get lost in your misery. When we look ahead, we quickly gain sight of the original goal and begin to press on. Didn’t the apostle Paul used these words: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead . . . (Philippians 4: 13).
So press on, friends. Good things await you. Stretch tall and catch a glimpse of God’s original call to you. And, we can’t escape being responsible for the little things in life, thinking God’s call is only for the big and important achievements. Remember the “The one who is faithful in a very little, is also faithful in much. . . (Luke 16:10)
So press on, friends. Good things await you. Stretch tall and catch a glimpse of God’s original call to you. And, we can’t escape being responsible for the little things in life, thinking God’s call is only for the big and important achievements. Remember the “The one who is faithful in a very little, is also faithful in much. . . (Luke 16:10)
4 comments:
Philippian 4:13 is a different verse:
I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.
Thanks sister. God Bless.
The fresh water of encouragement for tired and weary, thirsty souls!
You speak to those of us who aspire to write words that will get into the hands others and bring meaning into readers' hearts. The principles apply, of course, to most any field of endeavour.
Thanks Donna.
I guess most times I write to myself - so glad it's meaningful to others. Thanks for your encouragement. You are so faithful in connecting,Peter. There should be an award out there for folks like you. D.
That's generous of you, Donna.
But, not at all. I shoulder so little of TWG's load; many of our colleagues are doing the heavy lifting.
However, this is one little self-adopted area that I do my best to fulfill. I do hope that my comments don't sound like the proverbial broken record.
I gain much inspiration from our fellow twg bloggers.
Post a Comment