We have all felt the feeling before. We end the day, tired, disappointed in ourselves, wishing we had done or could have done more (or perhaps both). There is an emptiness that never seems filled, that hole we keep open for our unfulfilled expectations for our frail, human selves. We are an impossibly hard to please bunch!
And yet, we are all a Beautiful Letdown. Nothing that we ever do will be ENOUGH - and the fact that we are dissatisfied with ourselves is an indication of how much we need Christ. We are always searching for something MORE. And that MORE must always come from Christ's abilities, NOT our own abilities!
So often we find reasons to be disappointed in ourselves, because we don't meet our own expectations. What about the expectations of Christ? What about the things that He wishes us to accomplish with our days, and what about His knowledge of our weaknesses, our failings, the things that we hold onto and the things we so easily let slide? We are children of God, and as children of God, we must sacrifice our own pride and expectations in order to accomplish the greatness He has planned for us.
To illustrate this point, I want to tell you the story of a young boy you might know. He grew up in Poland during a time of political turmoil, and he loved Christ with all his heart. He loved football, and he even dabbled briefly in the field of library science and theatre, working as a playwright. But he loved Christ more than even all this, and felt a call to the priesthood. This little boy could have become a football player, or a writer, or a librarian, but he followed God's call to something I'm sure he felt was much bigger than himself. This little boy was Karol Jozef Wojtyla, and would later become Pope John Paul II. How would the world be different if he had instead held onto the expectations he had for himself, and pursued a career as a football player, or a librarian?
We are all Beautiful Letdowns, at one point or another. Rather than focusing on how we have failed to be what we expect ourselves to be, let us focus on how we are accomplishing what God intends for us to be. It may very well be that the "Letdown" we see in the mirror is God's beloved child, accomplishing His will with an artful grace, even though we may not realize it.
And yet, we are all a Beautiful Letdown. Nothing that we ever do will be ENOUGH - and the fact that we are dissatisfied with ourselves is an indication of how much we need Christ. We are always searching for something MORE. And that MORE must always come from Christ's abilities, NOT our own abilities!
So often we find reasons to be disappointed in ourselves, because we don't meet our own expectations. What about the expectations of Christ? What about the things that He wishes us to accomplish with our days, and what about His knowledge of our weaknesses, our failings, the things that we hold onto and the things we so easily let slide? We are children of God, and as children of God, we must sacrifice our own pride and expectations in order to accomplish the greatness He has planned for us.
To illustrate this point, I want to tell you the story of a young boy you might know. He grew up in Poland during a time of political turmoil, and he loved Christ with all his heart. He loved football, and he even dabbled briefly in the field of library science and theatre, working as a playwright. But he loved Christ more than even all this, and felt a call to the priesthood. This little boy could have become a football player, or a writer, or a librarian, but he followed God's call to something I'm sure he felt was much bigger than himself. This little boy was Karol Jozef Wojtyla, and would later become Pope John Paul II. How would the world be different if he had instead held onto the expectations he had for himself, and pursued a career as a football player, or a librarian?
We are all Beautiful Letdowns, at one point or another. Rather than focusing on how we have failed to be what we expect ourselves to be, let us focus on how we are accomplishing what God intends for us to be. It may very well be that the "Letdown" we see in the mirror is God's beloved child, accomplishing His will with an artful grace, even though we may not realize it.
