I have a bad habit of developing huge Clark Griswold-like expectations about family functions. You know, the kind of expectations that can never be fulfilled, and then on the back end of those unmet expectations I struggle with disappointment. Usually, it is all my fault. For instance, I may plan a movie night for my family and in my mind float grand illusions of my kids cheering for excitement when I announce the movie, celebrating what we feed them for dinner, sitting throgh the entire movie, hugging me and Angela in celebration at the end of the movie and drifting off to sleep peacefully with thankful hearts for parents that love them so deeply.
Yeah, that never happens.
The reality is that the kids do enjoy the movie, but they still gripe about dinner and we have to fight to get them to bed. This is still a successful night since we have had family time and created new memories. However, when my expectations are so high, any misstep can throw me out of balance. Often, in our lives, we live with the expectation that everything should go just so and that God somehow owes it to us to grant us ease and comfort.
When we expect to live lives free from disappointment and struggle, the introduction of hard times can plunge us into depression. If we do not deal with that depression, over time we can develop a victim mentality.
News flash: Life is hard. John Wayne supposedly said, “Life is tough, it’s tougher if your stupid.” That may be a bit harsh, but it is true. Your expetations about life (and your knowledge about the realities of life) affect the way that you experience life. You can choose to be the victim or the victor in your life. The apostle Paul learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself in (Philippians 4:11). Where is your contentment? Is it found in the circumstances of your life or in the God of your circumstnaces? In this life, there will be trouble (yes, those are the words of Jesus), “but I have overcome this world ” (John 16:33)
Do you have unmet expectations about the way that your life should be going? Perhaps what you need to change most is your expctations. You should expect life to be hard and filled with trouble, Jesus told us it would be so. If you expect the problems and stay grounded in the God who has already overcome this world on our behalf, you may find it much easier to happy and content. [bctt tweet=”Life will bring troubles; learn to expect the expected.”]
