Osmosis

Osmosis
I have been thinking today about disappointments and how I could look back on the decade and note the disappointments, the prayers that weren’t seemingly answered, the relationships that didn’t develop, the opportunities that were missed, the expectations that were not met and leave 2009 with a sense of disappointment.
Proverbs 13 verse 12 tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick and we have a nation that is not only physically sick but also spiritually. A nation of people soaked in disappointment of what could have been this year, this decade. And I ask myself are the people of God any different?
I learnt in Biology about Osmosis with potatoes put in water and how over time the potato will suck up the water and become all bloated and bendy and wonder how much of the culture around us have we soaked up? How bloated have we become, how have we bent our theology to fit our disappointment? If we are surrounded by disappointed, critical, negative people do we, by osmosis, become critical and disappointed too or are we the ones that are oozing disappointment over others?
The rest of the proverb says that a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life. I was listening to Godfrey on Sunday night talking about this proverb and asking about the health of our wells, are they overflowing with life giving water or full of rubble. I had to admit mine had rubble and God in his grace and truth pointed out that some of the rubble was disappointment. He showed me moments where things had not gone the way I had hoped and I had resolved not to go down that path again. So my choice, as he always gives us a choice, to carry on with my well drying out or to deal with the disappointments, to make some new resolutions to hope, to hope no matter what the circumstances or the outcomes of my hopes. To leave the disappointment in the past.
The bible says that for the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross. In a book which calls us to persevere and fix our eyes on Jesus we too should look ahead to the joy set before us, to have faith – being sure of what we hope for. Disappointment is maybe just another form of unbelief and I want to be a person of faith not unbelief. Faith in the one who comes full of grace and truth. Maybe as we draw close to a new decade we should look at the state of our wells and see if they are bringing life or full of rubble, whether there are disappointments to be left behind and a renewed resolution to hope. To soak up the culture of heaven rather than the culture of the world. To, by osmosis, become bloated with joy and love and grace and truth and bend our circumstances and outcomes to the truth of heaven.