Have you ever heard the statement, "Into every life a little rain must fall"? Personally I expect a little rain. We all need a little rain. Rain is good. It brings nourishment. It brings refreshing. But what do you do when the "little rain" turns into a hurricane, tornado, monsoon, typhoon, blinding blizzard, and an earthquake thrown in for good measure. Well - I wish I could change the monumental forces of nature that may be blowing into your life right now but I can't. What I can tell you is that we all go through life and suffer disappointments and the difference between living a healthy overcoming life and wallowing in despair is how you respond to the weather that's blowing right now.
Disappointment is tough because by definition in order for us to suffer it, we have to have things happen to us that are the exact opposite of what we expected. None of us want to experience and therefore we are rarely skilled at dealing with it. And unfortunately the only way to learn to deal with it is to be disappointed. Do you see why this is so tough?
So what do you when you suffer disappointment? What do you do when the things that you expect to occur just don't? What do you do when you expected sunshine and all you see are storm clouds? What do you do when everyone else is feasting on the pleasure of life, all you seem to have is indigestion? You deal with it and you move forward.
Joseph has a plan. He's going to be a successful furniture shop owner. He's a carpenter and he's reputable and he works hard and he produces a good product. He's got a great fiance and he's building a beautiful home and his life is going great. Then his fiance stops by with some news. He's thinking that she's gonna tell him about the curtains she's picked out or maybe a new pattern of China that she found at the local Nazara-Mart. Instead Mary drops this extremely disappointing news . . . "Honey, I'm pregnant AND we both know it can't be yours AND just so you know it's by the Spirit of God. Oh and by the way, your family has still not RSVPd for the wedding." (Now I know I've used creative license there but I'm confident that Joseph's level of disappointment was about through the roof.)
So how does he deal with it? Joseph decides that his solution will be to send his fiance away to privately have the child and begins to reconsider the whole life that he's planned out. Just like you or I, when the disappointment storm rolled in, Joseph begins to reconsider every dream, plan or ambition he's ever had. But as he begins to wallow in self-doubt and disappointment, he discovers that God's plan for His life is bigger, MUCH BIGGER, than the life plan that Joseph had put together following his bar mitzvah. And to me that's why Joseph is the forgotten hero of the Christmas story - instead of allowing disappointment to derail him - he allowed God to reveal an ever greater plan that he could be a part of provided he didn't allow disappointment to control him.
So today - although disappointment affects us all, when it comes - and it will - don't allow it to derail and completely dissuade you from moving forward. Rather, allow your disappointment to make you more aware of the voice of God - because he just may you wake you up in the middle of the night and reveal your role in bringing Jesus to the world. It may not be the plan you had. It may not be the agenda you had in mind. But God loved you so much to send storms and tornadoes and hurricanes and monsoons into your life to make you aware that His plan was bigger than yours. So go ahead and listen and let your disappointment fuel the plan of God for your life.
Well until next time - let God lead you in your disappointing moments - discover His plan and follow it and eventually you'll see that the rain was necessary to prepare you for the moment when God's greatest plan will be revealed! God bless - love you all! -- RP
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