Disappointment, and other uplifting topics...

What do you do when someone you care about disappoints you? Perhaps it was something little--he or she was late to an important appointment, or reacted poorly to something you said (perhaps they were stressed about something)... Most of the time, little disappointments can be dealt with by thinking through the situation. Usually what I find is my disappointment is partly my fault--either my expectation was too high, or perhaps I wasn't sensitive enough, or didn't listen well enough, and the list goes on... Life is such a process of continued effort to do better, to treat others kindly, to live with inspiration at all times....

But...what happens when that disappointment is deep? When it causes you to question your core beliefs? Or when that disappointment seems personal...? When the disappointment is so profound that it seems physical--there's just an ache that won't quit? It's taken me 45 years to begin to figure out when to hold on, and when to let go.... "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the the Wisdom to know the difference." When I find myself disappointed, hurt, depressed, in pain...due to the actions of another, and I cannot see how I might bear at least some of the responsibility, that is the time when I've come to recognize that I must rely on the Love that only God can give--unconditional, accepting, and unchanging. When I am wise enough to seek that love, our Heavenly Father does not fail me. I am not found wanting. I am full. The funny thing is, that although my problem may still be there, the pain is gone, and peace, deep peace fills my heart--at least until the next moment when I choose to be a 'loner'.... I know he is there for each of us in our lowest moments. He will not fail us.

"It is my personal belief that in all of Christ's mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in those agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son, who had never spoken ill, nor done wrong, nor touched any unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind --us, all of us--would feel when we did commit such sins (or feel the affects of the sins of those we care for). For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die, not only physically, but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

One of my daughter's has a sign on her bedroom wall. It says, "When life gets too hard to stand, KNEEL". So, here's to all of us 'loners', may we recognize when to hold on, and when to let go...