Managing Disappointment Part Two

If you haven’t read Managing Disappointment Part One, go back and read it, because really, this post is dependent upon that one.

Two weeks after I made that painful phone call, I received one eerily similar.

On short notice, I’d arranged for those students to spend the week serving on a Native American Reservation. We had spent time there before and I knew that this was a good option for us, and I was extremely fortunate to discover they were available to host us.

But, as life would have it, 48 hours before leaving for the trip, I was on the receiving end of disappointment. The Reservation had a staffing issue and was no longer able to host us.

The resemblance between these two phone calls was not lost on me; in one case, I had to disappoint people I cared about and in the other, I needed to be gracious with those disappointing me.

A month later, I suppose what I’ve learned is a sort of grace. I’ve seen a glimmer of the idea that when people fail me, they likely do it with heavy hearts. I’m discovering that it’s no easier to be on either end of that phone call…both sides stink. But that means we must maintain our focus on being in gracious relationship with one another; even when it feels like I’m getting the short end of the stick, I have a part to play in managing both my disappointment and theirs.