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Viewpoint from Rev Rosie Bunn 27/09/2024
 Rev Rosie Bunn
Rector of All Saints Church, Belton
and
St Peter & St Paul Church, Burgh Castle
I sometimes reflect on the way that disappointment in our lives affects the way we live. Do you? Life experiences often throw up disappointments, where we feel dissatisfied with ourselves, or someone close to us. We can be disappointed with the results of tests, or exams, interviews, or even how something we have made has turned out. Perhaps we have burnt the cake, or dropped some stitches in our knitting. Or, if we are gardeners, the seeds we have sown have not come up, or the caterpillars have eaten the cabbages! When we experience many disappointments through the failure of our expectations or hopes to be realised, and they can become a real problem, leading to significant discouragement, and worse, to an attitude of defeat, if we let them
 As someone who believes in the power of prayer, disappointment can knock my desire to keep praying. When we pray for someone or a situation for a long time but do not see the answers we want to, it is easy to become discouraged or defeated, and just give up. We might blame God for not answering our prayer and, if that becomes a big thing in our life, we might find that doubts creep in, and we give up. We could also experience anger or bitterness in our disappointment. Too many or too much disappointment can really change who we are, and not for the good
Sometimes, I guess, we can shrug our shoulders and think “Oh well, life’s rubbish!” (or words to that effect) but it depends on what that disappointment is, of course. When I have experienced loss through the death of someone special to me, in tragic circumstances, I have been extremely disappointed (to say the least!). All I could do was to tell God how I felt – being completely honest about my anger and disappointment, and to draw on passages from the Bible to help me understand and gird up my faith. Passages like this from verse 8 of Isaiah 55 : “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” declares the Lord. Or verse 11 of Jeremiah 29: “For I know the plans I have for you; plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”. And “The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit” From Psalm 34
I think I’ve learnt that letting anything fester is not healthy; nipping that disappointment in the bud, before it develops into something bigger, so important. I am thankful to God for knowing Him; that I can off load it all on Him, turn around and look at life from a different perspective. My Mum always taught me to “count my blessings”, and I do! By being thankful, I am able to cultivate a grateful heart which, in turn, changes the effect disappointments can have on me
Don’t get me wrong; I still experience disappointment, but it’s what we do with them that matters
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