I’ve always had high expectations; for myself and of others. Just ask my poor husband.
On our first wedding anniversary, his scavenger hunt leading me to a few Kohl’s gift cards wasn’t the romantic gift I had built up in my mind. We ended up in a huge fight. I wiped away tears before walking into church with a smile. We acted like everything was okay, but my expectations had caused turmoil between us. Unfortunately I didn’t learn my lesson.
A few years later, I ripped into the Christmas paper. Excitement bubbled inside. In my mind I thought I would pull out a sparkling piece of jewelry or something he’d put a lot of thought into. I saw a piece of paper sitting in the box. My heart raced. Maybe he had booked a surprise trip.
I was surprised alright…it was a receipt showing he had ordered the return address stamp I had asked for. Hawaii was out of the question. My heart sank and Christmas was ruined.
Expectations rob us of joy, they steal the gifts, they ruin relationships. {Tweet This}
In her book You’re Going to Be Okay, Holley Gerth writes: Taking on expectations will wear you out, exhaust you, and let you down. We can’t live to meet each other’s expectations. If we do so, we’re destined for exhaustion and burnout. To be women who live freely, we have to release ourselves and each other from expectations. They are prison bars God never intended for us. Living under expectations is the modern version of living under the law.
Expectations suffocate us. If we place our hope in expectations and they go unmet, we will be left empty and defeated.
Our hope should be in God; He will never disappoint us.
Romans 15:13 says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Others will let us down, but God will exceed our expectations (Ephesians 3:20-21)
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
How have expectations let you down? How has God exceeded your expectations?