Every disappointment carries a secret message: this world was never meant to satisfy us fully.

Few things wound us as profoundly as lost hope. The collapse of anticipation into disappointment, then into despair, can fracture our inner world.

When there is so much doom and gloom, division and conflict, how do we have hope? 

Close your eyes and imagine standing at the edge of tomorrow. Can you feel it? That feeling in your stomach that something extraordinary is on its way, like we experienced as children on Christmas Eve. Or on this edge, we may feel dread … it may be a difficult conversation we must have, or the dread of putting down a loved pet. We spend so much of our lives headed into what is coming that we forget to be here now. Here’s a truth that sometimes alludes us: being absorbed in anticipation, whether it is of a party or a funeral to attend, can hijack this moment, the only one that exists.

What if disappointment is not a failure of the spiritual life, but the moment just before surrender?

Have you ever wondered why you anticipate the outcome you want? Have you ever wondered why you avoid the outcome you do not want?

Have you ever noticed how quickly joy can turn to disappointment? One moment you’re looking forward to something, and the next, it’s vaporized. This week, something I’d been anticipating for months was suddenly canceled, but in that instant, I discovered something surprising about the nature of disappointment itself.