How to Deal When People Let Us Down

If you have spent any amount of time on Earth, you have been let down by people. If you have kept the same friends since elementary school then chances are you've been let down by the same people over and over again.

Isn't it weird how we just know there is a certain way that people should treat us?
Isn't it strange that in our imperfect world, where we have all let each other down thousands of times, there is an awareness of how we should be treated, what love feels like, what perfect harmony is.

Its like our soul is constantly begging for world peace.

And we have flashes of time where it feels like our whole world IS at peace. We have nothing but loving selfless friends, our families are getting along, even our pets are behaving.

If youre a christian, you tend to look at these times as being truly blessed by God.
Ahh..my family is such a blessing...I'm so blessed by my wonderful friends.

Its nice...right? Its nice those moments when you feel like your whole life has been leading up to THIS! Its easy to be excited and to thank God for all of your wonderful blessings and treasures.

But...we live in an imperfect world. So chances are, even those things that right now seem like huge blessings, will someday show you the corruption that this world has made on them and they will let you down. And sometimes, not just accidentally...Sometimes on purpose...Not to be a downer, but its almost a guarantee...

So how do we deal when people let us down? Not if, mind you...when...

I'm finding that the same principle is true here as is true with every other area of life. Balance.

This time is balancing our expectations against reality. We have to figure out how to balance trust with an awareness that people suck and will make terrible mistakes and horrible choices. We have to live almost expecting failure and yet trusting people to look out for our best interest. What an impossible conundrum!!

I've been challenged recently with the notion that no one is really trustworthy. None but God himself. Ugh, it sucks to discover. All this time in my life I have been trusting in people and been repeatedly disappointed. I like having friends, i like being cared about...it feels amazing. I like being occasionally put first and for people to seek me out and want to spend time with me. I like to matter so much to people that they plan things with me...I like to think that there are people out there who would do anything to see me smile. Whether its friends or guys or whomever, its nice.

But if that is the love in which we put our hope and joy, or on which we obsess, or for which we take the biggest risks, then that is a heartbreaking disappointment waiting to happen.

Maybe its cynicism...or maybe its just true. When it comes to looking out for us, to providing, protecting, loving us...The ONLY one who gets it right all the time, The only one who deserves our passion, obsession or risk, is God himself.

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