Disappointments

This morning I awoke to the news that we had elected a new president ... not the one I had voted for yesterday. I was disappointed that my candidate didn't win, but also because I knew I would have to break the news to Joel who would be very upset.

As I thought about telling Joel, I was reminded that this life is full of many disappointments. Some of them are the results of our own actions ... consequences that we must pay for making poor choices. Some disappointments come to us by the way of another person's poor decisions. So often we forget that our sins rarely affect only us, because the action ripples out and touches everyone around us. And then there are just some disappointments in life that simply happen, not from the result of sin or poor choices. Life just doesn't always go our way. (As my mother has so wisely said many times, "Life's not perfect, and it's the disappointments here on earth that make us long for the perfection of heaven."

As I prepared my heart for the conversation I knew I would soon have with Joel, I began to think deeper about how some disappoinments for me might give another a reason to rejoice. There are many people in the USA that are celebrating today, joyful over the newly elected president. They do not feel disappointment over the election results. It is the same lesson I learned from play jr. high basketball ... win or lose, when the game is over and a winner is declared, shake hands and say "great game." If you played your best, you have no reason to feel bad that you lost. So because I love my democratic friends and relatives, I cannot allow my own disappointment to ruin their good fortune.

Furthermore, the results of this election should give everyone in this nation reason to celebrate, for we have overcome so much of the damage caused by slavery by simply electing our first black president. The civil rights movement has come so very far over the last 50 years, and we can joyfully acknowledge that with this election.

As you might guess, once Joel woke up he immediately asked about the election results. And, at first, he was disappointed, but not as disappointed as I thought he might be. We were able to talk together about how God is in control even when things we don't like happen, and that we have no reason to feel upset or filled with worry. Joel and I committed to praying for President-elect Obama, just as we prayed for President Bush. We also agreed that we would allow ourselves to feel disappointed today, but after that we will let those feelings go and focus on being good Americans. Finally, Joel said, "Mama, do you remember how you said that you remembered a lot of people in your family didn't want Reagan to be elected, but he was a good president. Maybe it will be the same way with Obama. Maybe he will be a good president, too."

I hope and pray that Joel is right.