"I Can't Fly!"

One day when my youngest son, Sawyer was about three-years-old, my husband heard a big thump and crash from Sawyer's bedroom.  He hurried into the room only to find Sawyer all crumpled up on his bed crying.

"What happened?"  My husband asked, leaning over him concerned, "Are you hurt?" 

Sawyer shook his head and with lips trembling he sobbed with anguish, "I can't fly!" 

Our young son, who was convinced in his little boy mind that he was a super hero, had attempted to jump off his dresser and fly.  And now that he had discovered that he was unable to fly he was completely crushed.  In fact for a little while he was inconsolable because he'd really believed he could do it.

Many of us this week have felt that same bitter sense of disappointment with the presidential election, upset by forces that our beyond our control, watching our nation go in a direction that seems headed right off of a cliff in so many ways; especially when we are seeing so many people lose their jobs just days after the election. 

So often hopes, dreams, and ambitions don't go in the way that we might have wanted, but we shouldn't let those things that are beyond our power dictate our happiness, not even for one day.

A friend of mine shared this quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf a few days ago and it really touched me:

"So often we get caught up in the illusion that there is something just beyond our reach that would bring us happiness: a better family situation, a better financial situation, or the end of a challenging trial.

"The older we get, the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don’t really matter or determine our happiness.

"We do matter. We determine our happiness.

"You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness."

Perhaps now is the time to reflect on the blessings we do have.  We still have the important things in life, like homes and families, and we still have a Father in Heaven that loves us and cares for us.

Charles Stanley said, "Our Heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear and doubt.  He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He's sufficient for all our needs.  When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped."

Now and again when the disappointments come, we need to remember that God sees the whole picture and he has a plan for each of us.  Disappointments can ultimately strengthen us if we let them.

Eliza Tabor Stephenson tells us, “Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.”  

I found this to be true with my little three-year-old son, after just a few days, he was back to being a super hero again, not a flying one, but a stronger, more cunning, super hero than ever before.  Even to this day, many years later, Sawyer astounds me with his brilliant imagination.

From Vincent Van Gogh we learn, "In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."

I hope that we will all do the same like Sawyer did so many years ago.