Disappointed? Then Get Busy!

How do you take disappointments? Do you go into a tantrum when things don't go your way? Do you run off to your room, slam the door, and bury your head under your pillow? Well, if you are like that, you are missing a lot of the fun in life.

Disappointments are bound to come. No one ever gets his way all the time. We must learn to expect them and learn how to ride them out. The great sculptor Michel­angelo said, "It is only well with me when I have a chisel in my hand." He had many disappointments in his life, but that didn't keep him from being one of the greatest artists in the world. He kept busy. People who have "a million things to do" don't have time to be disappointed.

Do something for someone else when you think the world is against you. When you help to dig someone else out of trouble you automatically bury your own troubles in the hole you dig. Disappointment is caused by selfishness. If we think only of ourselves and always have to have our own way in things, we are inviting disappointments; for we shall not always get our own way. The strong tree learns to bend with the wind. Sometimes the wind will be in our favor, sometimes it will be against us.

The fellow or girl who trusts in God, believes in his way, and tries to follow his will, will not have time for disappointment. When you feel that things are going to go against you, get busy and do something—and you'll never know what you missed.

Give me so many things to do and think about, O Christ, that I won't have time to think about having my own way.