Expectations | Expecting the Best
"Something good will happen, I just know it ..."
Do you ever hear these words in your head/heart? It arrives when you're expecting something, an outcome you desire. Or maybe it's a not-so-hopeful, and somewhat cynical thought - and you're simply grabbing at your last straw of help before you crash!
Our grand expectations are, biblically speaking, "hopes for things unseen". Faith - as small as a mustard seed, we're told - is powerful enough to toss Mt. Everest into the Indian Ocean! We're told this ideal is good to have in our Spiritual lives. And faith is commonly interchanged with hope.
That's some big-time lofty expectations, and also some big-time pressure too! And sometimes our expectations can be negative as well.
"Something bad will happen, I just know it ..."
So much for mustard seeds.
Missed expectations can be that way - we're sure we're missing something (but others didn't, right?). Like a bus, the point, a chance, it seems we're missing the life-boat - figuratively and hopefully not literally!
"I missed it by THAT much", the hilarious TeeVee detective Maxwell Smart used to say to the camera with that thumb and finger squeezing together, back when Boomers like me were kids. Look up "Get Smart" on YouTube (no link provided because yes, I'm that old)!
Seriously, fear of missing out (FOMO) is a thing. It's frustrating and deflating. It causes feelings of doubt or apprehension about a life outcome or negative consequences - back to our hopes (and fears).
So what do we do when life doesn’t go our way?
Ok - reality check. It doesn't have to, and I believe some of the time the Savior of our souls and the Savior of ourselves wouldn’t allow it anyway.
Why is that? Let's break it down:
We're inherently ego-centric (focused too much on our own wants and needs.)
We don't always like change, even the good, solid, emotionally-healthy kind.
(Strange, isn't it because "the only constant is change,” as they say!)We're too busy going and doing, and don't take the time to simply BE. Positive and negative expectations both live in another time zone - the past and the future. We miss the “naked now,” as Author Richard Rohr likes to say, when actually, we're right where we should be!
Created by God and completely immersed in that ongoing relationship, we inexplicably don't recognize God's rightful place as our loving father/mother at times. We miss the boat because we are like two ships passing in the night.
We forget to do what Mom always said - say Thank You! Gratitude isn't just two words to say after God blesses us. It's literally a lifestyle of counting our blessings when it appears he/she is not!
When we learn-the-lean and try-the-trust for any outcome (or consequence), we at last understand that we haven't missed out on the point, a boat, or anything else after all.
Now something great will happen! I just know it.
Hebrews 11:1-2 The Message
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.
