What does the word conjure up in your mind? What kind of blessings do you see? Are there feelings that swirl through you as you roll the word “expectations” around your mind?
More than one person has told me that I have unrealistic expectations. That elusive thing beckoning me forward … surely this will be the thing … it is due … presuming that life will go in this direction. They were correct. I have indulged in unrealistic expectations. How about you?
Ever expected a promotion that didn’t happen? How about fair treatment that was due you? Ever expected your spouse or children to behave in certain ways that didn’t happen? Have you expected your circumstances to improve, only to have them shatter at your feet? Perhaps expected a friend to be at your side and found yourself alone and misunderstood? Certainly we can expect fellow Christians to do the right thing?
Expectations imposed on people or situations can disappoint. Getting stuck on expectations we feel we deserve or that seem “right” can blind us to blessings and seasons of growth.
Expectations should produce hope in our hearts - not shackles for others or unrelenting demands on our circumstances.
Expectations are safest to embrace from God alone. Times and people will disappoint but God will never fail.
Long ago God’s own chosen people lost sight of where to place their expectations. Only a handful on a dark and starry night bent down to welcome a Savior. Although the scriptures spoke of all the things to look for … they looked for something else.
Oppressed beneath a rule of harshness and irreverence, the people were sure that God would send a King of might to destroy the Roman forces. Little did they expect a baby, who grew in wisdom and stature with God and man, among them. Many missed a powerful Savior standing right next to them, by clinging to expectations they had imagined for themselves.
Are signs and wonders, health and prosperity, people and government still part of our expectations? Or can we turn our expectations to a Savior who walks the road of life with us? When we find Him – all the rest falls into place.
Take the pressure off yourself today and the people around you … center your hopes and dreams in the hands of the One who will surpass all the expectations you could ever have.