7 AM CST – FLIGHT AA 2850 from OMA to LAX
That’s what our calendar says for this morning. Sheila and I were to be California bound for a special trip celebrating our 25th anniversary next week. We had a sweet time planning and dreaming of what we could do in our week in California. Well, with current situations, that’s not going to happen. Dreams were dashed. Sweet expectations aren’t going to be realized. The past few days we’ve been mourning what could have been.
These unmet expectations could easily turn to bitterness and grumbling of the heart. I’ll admit I’ve had a few moments of disappointment in not being able to celebrate in this way with my bride. I love traveling and experiencing new places with Sheila! Even though I’m disappointed, I’m led to Proverbs 4:23. It instructs us to “Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” If bitterness takes root, it endangers our perspective, our motives and our relationship with our Father. The original Hebrew for the word ‘guard’ in this piece of scripture has the connotation to preserve. It makes me think that if we don’t watch our hearts, it will slowly start to decay and wither.
- Your senior year of high school was different than you dreamed it would be.
- Whoever would have thought that you can’t visit your aging parent in their care facility?
- Your once-in-a-lifetime family vacation to Disney that’s been in the works for two years has been cancelled because of a global pandemic!
Instead of focusing on what could have been or what we’re missing, when we set our hopes on things above and the sweet mercies that come from our Father in Heaven, the hurt from those unmet expectations lessens and becomes a reason for thankfulness. We have the opportunity in these times to see where God’s goodness, grace and mercy falls heavily upon us in ways that we’ve never seen before.
Ultimately, we’re to align our heart to His above all else. In Luke 22, Jesus withdrew from his disciples and prayed to his Father in Heaven asking that He be spared from what was ahead on the cross. Ultimately Jesus wanted what His Father wanted above all else, even if that meant his eventual death on the cross. He said this when he said, “not My will, but [always] Yours be done.” When he prayed that, an angel appeared from heaven and strengthened him. What a sweet example of when we surrender our hearts to His will and not ours, we avoid the traps of bitterness and hurt and gain encouragement and strength from the one and only God who created the heavens and the earth.
Are we supposed to be in California celebrating 25 years? That was the plan and maybe we’ll get there someday to celebrate, but we trust that God’s got this under control and we’ll come through strengthened, encouraged and with guarded hearts.
