Who doesn’t know firsthand a sigh-causing sense of disappointment? Hardly a day passes without some touch of it; sometimes it brings a somewhat gentle sense of frustration. Sometimes it’s downright disheartening, in the truest sense of that word.

I’m reading something right now about experiencing real spiritual community. In the same sentences, I’m reading of disappointment. Besides our struggles to join our lives well with others, we all find disappointment within our own journeys. I can find it in myself long before I try to connect intimately with you, thank you very much.

But what if it’s not that bad?

I don’t intend that question as a minimization of real hurt. What I mean is, “Could disappointment itself fill a role?” Larry Crabb thinks so, and I’m inclined to agree…

“Disappointment… is inevitable. More than that, it is good. Following Christ must take us through seasons of disappointment, because Christianity remakes our dreams before it fulfills them. The process is excruciating. It can include divorce, bankruptcy, accidents, murder, near apostasy–anything.

Christianity promises happiness–that’s part of its appeal–but we will not find it by traveling the route we’ve already laid out in our heads. Disappointment, severe enough to be called death, is unavoidable in a true spiritual journey.”

Comforting? Not entirely.

True? I suspect so.

So what? Not sure. Go and live, and seek Jesus fiercely. And when disappointment hits, react to it slowly enough that the hurt doesn’t automatically create anger and aggravation. You may be more squarely on the right path than you realize.