Dealing with disappointment

I seem to have the misfortune to have had a lot of great people that I really look up to disappoint me throughout my lifetime. Sometimes I wonder if this is just a normal part of life (which I know it kind of is) or if I just happen to have been unusually unlucky in this area.
The disappointment I'm referring isn't just with the little things, like someone hurt my feelings with something small, but it's been a disappointment with the major choices that some of these people in my life have made that have completely changed the course of their entire lives. At times this has been heartbreaking for me to see.

The earliest recollection I have of experiencing this was when I was in high school and a youth leader that I really looked up to ended up cheating on his wife with one of the other youth leaders. I remember the day that he told me, just days after he had "come clean." To his credit,  he was trying as much as possible to own up to his mistakes. He went to all of the people that he had been close to and personally apologized and made sure that each one of us knew that his mistakes were all because of his stupidity and in no way had anything to do with anything his wonderful wife had done to "drive him to such actions." I remember that was one of the first times I had really been disappointed in someone that I really looked up to.

I had been disappointed by others prior to this, but they had all been people that I hadn't really expected much of anyway, so it didn't really affect me like it did with this youth leader that I had respected so much. So began what felt like my career in looking up to what seemed like the wrong people.

Then I realized that we're all just human and will all make mistakes - some bigger than others. In the last 10 years I've learned a few things. One being that without the grace of God we are all hopeless. Another being that although sometimes tough love is necessary,  unconditional love is a must.

Unconditional love is one of that factors that have come to make close friends more like family. Everyone says that family is forever because no matter what, they have to love you because you share the same DNA. While this true, that seems like it makes it to easy. That is why I've come to appreciate so much the close friends in my life that DON'T share my DNA and therefore don't have to show me that unconditional love, but yet have. Those are the people that could cut me out (or be cut out) of our lives at any moment. I'm thankful to say that I have quite a few of those types of friends that I know will love and support me no matter what.

I am also one of those kind of friends to others and right now I'm dealing with extending that unconditional love while I battle anger and sadness over choices that are being made. What I'm learning in the process though is that none of us are perfect and we all hit bumps along the road - some of those bumps are little potholes and others are huge manholes. Although the size of the bump matters, its if we make it to the flat ground on the other side that's really the most important.

I'm learning to choose and believe that it is possible in all circumstances to make it out of that bump and that the unconditional love that I show in the process is what has the power to help or hurt. It's believing in others when they don't even believe or care to believe in themselves that's important, and I'm learning that it truly is an honor to stand in the gap for someone as they make it out of that bump.

I'm also learning that none of us are above any of the disappointing actions that we see others playing out and because of that I've become even more grateful for the grace of God on my life.