A Prayer

Father,

You have blessed us with much good. As we look around us we see the results of Your lavish generosity. You have given us much to enjoy. And as we look within us, we see more of Your kindness, different ways in which we have been changed to live less like sinners and more like saints. We see these blessings, and we are very grateful.

But there are times when we look around and within, and we see things that are not good. There are times when we are reminded of the many disappointments of our lives. In the days of our youth, we had high aspirations, great expectations of enjoying good things, and for some of us the confidence that our lives would be so very different from the many around us whose lives seemed so flawed. And yet, now, as we take a look, we see that while some of those expectations have, in fact, been met, there are so many others that have not been. We see the imperfections, the sins, that still roam about within our souls. And seeing these things we feel the disappointment that is a part of life in this world.

We look to You, Father, to help us to deal well with this sense of disappointment. There are far too many who see those disappointments and who give up. They quit trying. And they quit because they are hopeless. Life, then, simply becomes trudging through one day into the next. We don't want to be like them. But then, there are those who simply ignore those disappointments. They ignore the reality of hopes dashed. So, they press on, thinking that everything is fine, even though it's not. And sometimes the dam breaks and reality comes flooding over them.  Father, we don't want to be like them, either.

 We thank You Father that You have shown us a way to respond to these disappointments, a wise way. And that wise way is the way of rejoicing.

Father, Your Spirit is busy in this disappointing world. He is busy changing it. We can see that as we consider the history of Your Church. There has been change. There has been growth. Your Church is making progress in attaining to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. In that we can rejoice. And we can rejoice also because the Spirit has been busy in our own lives. We are not the people we were in the days of our youth. There has been change. There has been growth. There has been more maturity. And we can rejoice in that.

And we know that one day Jesus will return. The work of the Spirit will be finished, His work in the Church and His work in our souls. That is when we will enter the age to come. That will be a time and a place where there will be no disappointments. None. And that is something that we can rejoice in.

Thank You, Father, that You are still busy, busy changing the world into something glorious. Thank You for this hope. Help us, by Your Spirit, to cling to it as we live in the midst of disappointment. Help us to rejoice in what You have done, what You are doing and what You will do. Through Christ our Lord Amen.