Articles in the Littlehampton Gazette
by Local Church Leaders
Jo Gisbey, Arun Church
Great expectations and a whispered hope
On New Year’s Day, instead of quickly broken resolutions, my husband suggested climbing a mountain together as a family. Eight months later we piled into the car, children, suitcases and the dog, and headed to Wales, excited about the adventures ahead.
The drive, meant to take three and a half hours, took six. When we finally arrived, somewhat frazzled, the holiday house was not quite what we had expected. The photos, likely helped by clever use of AI, were rather deceiving!
We tried to put our disappointment to one side and enjoy our time together. Saturday morning arrived and we woke early. We had researched where was best for a family climb and settled on Pen y Fan. We knew it was busy in summer, but I had not anticipated the hordes of people clambering up its side, hundreds going up and hundreds coming down.
As a small-town country girl from the Scottish Borders, this was not how I had imagined our idyllic family climb. Nevertheless, we got on with the adventure!
About 50 metres up, our fit and healthy youngest daughter looked pale, decided her legs were tired, and asked the inevitable question: “Are we nearly there yet?” I took a deep breath, counted to ten, got out the sweets intended for much further along the journey and used the age-old parenting strategy of bribery. We carried on.
After many more pitstops for the children, the dog and for me, we made it to the top. We were delighted, the crowd had thinned out, and we celebrated together. The trip down was significantly more fun!
The next day we planned a leisurely walk to see some waterfalls, followed by Sunday lunch at a local pub. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, other than the fact that the streams and waterfalls had almost completely dried up after the long, hot summer. Our intended paddling became clambering over rocks and dipping toes into the water.
During the weekend I reflected on how often we have great expectations for life. We imagine how something will be, and how we think it will turn out. Sometimes things work out as expected, but sometimes life disappoints us. Disappointments come in all shapes and sizes, and I know the smallness of those from the weekend and know too that sometimes disappointments are life-changing. It’s important to recognise how we are feeling, to name the disappointment rather than pretend all is okay, to talk about it and seek support. But let’s not make our home in disappointment. If we keep moving forward, we might be surprised by the beauty along the way.
Life may not look how we thought or hoped it would, but we can find treasure of a different kind when we allow whispers of hope to speak into our disappointment.
When we place our hope in God, He will not disappoint. Romans 5:5 (Amplified Version) says, “Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us”
We can put our hope in God. He is constant; He never changes. The Bible promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. Now that is hope indeed.
The drive, meant to take three and a half hours, took six. When we finally arrived, somewhat frazzled, the holiday house was not quite what we had expected. The photos, likely helped by clever use of AI, were rather deceiving!
We tried to put our disappointment to one side and enjoy our time together. Saturday morning arrived and we woke early. We had researched where was best for a family climb and settled on Pen y Fan. We knew it was busy in summer, but I had not anticipated the hordes of people clambering up its side, hundreds going up and hundreds coming down.
As a small-town country girl from the Scottish Borders, this was not how I had imagined our idyllic family climb. Nevertheless, we got on with the adventure!
About 50 metres up, our fit and healthy youngest daughter looked pale, decided her legs were tired, and asked the inevitable question: “Are we nearly there yet?” I took a deep breath, counted to ten, got out the sweets intended for much further along the journey and used the age-old parenting strategy of bribery. We carried on.
After many more pitstops for the children, the dog and for me, we made it to the top. We were delighted, the crowd had thinned out, and we celebrated together. The trip down was significantly more fun!
The next day we planned a leisurely walk to see some waterfalls, followed by Sunday lunch at a local pub. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, other than the fact that the streams and waterfalls had almost completely dried up after the long, hot summer. Our intended paddling became clambering over rocks and dipping toes into the water.
During the weekend I reflected on how often we have great expectations for life. We imagine how something will be, and how we think it will turn out. Sometimes things work out as expected, but sometimes life disappoints us. Disappointments come in all shapes and sizes, and I know the smallness of those from the weekend and know too that sometimes disappointments are life-changing. It’s important to recognise how we are feeling, to name the disappointment rather than pretend all is okay, to talk about it and seek support. But let’s not make our home in disappointment. If we keep moving forward, we might be surprised by the beauty along the way.
Life may not look how we thought or hoped it would, but we can find treasure of a different kind when we allow whispers of hope to speak into our disappointment.
When we place our hope in God, He will not disappoint. Romans 5:5 (Amplified Version) says, “Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us”
We can put our hope in God. He is constant; He never changes. The Bible promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. Now that is hope indeed.