At some point in our lives, I will let you down. Your friends will let you down. Your significant other will let you down. Your parents will let you down. Your kids will let you down. As much as I would like to tell you that it will not happen, it will. I am not saying this to be a downer (bad pun, I know, sorry) but to help us through those times.

As a popular saying goes, "expectations are everything". If we know that people are going to let us down then we can prepare ourselves for it and expect it. That way when the time comes, we may not overreact or get upset about it and make the situation worse.

Think about the times you have been disappointed. How did you act when it happened?

• Did you shut down and distance yourself from them? 
• Did you yell and shout at them? 
• Did you internalize it until so many disappointments built up into a big explosion?
• Blame and question God? 
• Bring up past issues that should have been buried away? 

I think through my life, I have resorted to every one of these at one time or another. We all have different ways of dealing with difficult situations and each have our coping method that "works" for us. But do any of these really work? I would answer no.

We are all human beings. Which means we will all fail, disappoint, and sin. Our pastor is doing a series on friendship right now and how to improve our relationships. This Sunday, he said that maybe we should all have a fistful of "forgiveness cards" ready to hand out when someone fails us. Honestly, how much better would life and our relationships be if we knew the important people in our life would forgive us? I think it would help us to try harder to think about them more and put them above ourselves.

God is the one person we can count on to never fail us. What about that perfect job I prayed about really hard and didn't get, didn't He fail me then?? No... our human minds can't see the whole picture, He has a plan for each and every one of us.

God never stops loving us. Never stops forgiving us. We continue to sin against Him, turn from Him and even if you curse Him or deny Him, He will still love you as much as ever!! Truly believing this and knowing this gives me so much joy... I hope that you can feel the same way! 


So, forgive a friend today of something you have been holding a grudge for. It will feel amazing and should help out your friend as well. 

Serenity: the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

Serenity prayer with a few more lines.

This "state of being" is something that we can work on and strive for, and one that God and the Bible can help us realize. There is a rather famous poem/ prayer that I think about to help me stay focused.

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things that I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.
- Credited to Reinhold Niebuhr

What an amazing prayer. Let's break this down a little bit:

• Grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change: There are things in this life that we cannot control and to be able to accept that is a step in the right direction. Life has enough pressure, stress and worries that we do not need to add to them.
• To have the courage to change the things I can: There are times that something needs to change; whether that be our actions, our environment, our thoughts. . . and they are not going to change themselves. The change is not always going to be easy or feel good, but if that's what you feel is right, we need the courage to make that change. 
• To have the wisdom to know the difference: This is the toughest one... how in the world do we know the difference in the moment. It's impossible to know for sure, but with prayer and faith in God, you have something to refer to while trying to decipher the two.