Embrace the Camera 24th February

I feel very little but very loved in this one :) 

What to do with disappointment

When I was tiny, I danced.  My favourite part of class was the mime. At the end of every ballet class, we would mime actions and emotions. Yes, no, listening, happy and...

disappointment.

Disappointment is standing still, hands clenched limply, face crumbled, shoulders sunk.

It is arriving too late for the party.

It is missing out on the last piece of pie.

It is the diagnosis we did not want to hear.

It is the asking of someone else.

It is having our plans, the things we hope for, those we look forward to, fall dashed to the ground.

Disappointment is the thing I like least in life.

What do we do with disappointment in life? Do we shove it down, push back tears, steel ourselves and move on? Or do we cry it out, acknowledge the pain and work through it?

What do we do when our disappointment is with God?

I have so much to be thankful for. So do you. But Christians are no strangers to disappointment. How are we to deal with the disappointment we experience in life?

I want to work through this issue over a series of posts in the next few weeks. Reflecting on this topic reminded me of Phillip Yancey's book, Disappointment with God. I will be reading this at the same time and reflecting on what our response is to be to the disappointment of our expectations.

Will you join me?

Choose Your Choice

I drove home today from my dietician's appointment - 1 hour in the car in traffic right on my usual dinner time...


AND I DIDN'T STOP FOR CHOCOLATE! 


That, my friends, is a very big deal! 


Oh I thought about it. The entire. way. home.
But I made it impossible by staying in the 'wrong' lane on the road so that I couldn't pull off into the petrol station for a quick bite. I played little videos of my desperate self just running in for a chocolate bar in my head. When I was only at most, 45 minutes away from dinner on the table. It seemed a bit pathetic. I even contemplated stopping at the milk bar which is just outside my house ...  


Changing a habit is not about change. Its about choice.


You already know the right thing to do.  My 2 and a half hours including travel time to visit the dietician who weighed me, asked me how I was going and then chatted for a few minutes, before charging me $98.00 and asking for another appointment in 3 weeks (I'm done - I know exactly what I need to do, and I'm doing it - without her) - was a waste of time and money, when I already had all the tools I need to finish this!


Choices. Don't choose that lane, that servo, that chocolate. 


Choose to get up earlier, go for the run (its never as bad as you think it will be), pack the lunch and then actually eat what you have packed.  Make a choice. Make a good choice. 


And motivate yourself in a way that suits you. For me its boxing gloves. I really want my own pair of boxing gloves. So my hubby said 200 good choices earns a pair of boxing gloves. I made a chart on the computer. I found some star stickers (you could just draw stars too) and every time I make a good choice, I'm a step closer to my goal. Not buying the chocolate is a good choice. Going to the gym is a good choice. Eating well for the entire day (not just one meal) is a good choice. 


Choose your choices. Say that out loud - choose your choices. Don't just do something and think "Oh, I shouldn't have done that/" When you have a choice to make, choose your choice - don't let your choices just happen to you!


Paul write about discipline in Hebrews 12. Here is referring to the spiritual discipline of obeying God. God's desire for obedience is absolute, so this passage should inspire us in many ways, be it what we eat, what we focus our trust on, what we read, how we pray and how we live.. 

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

How are you exercising your will power today?