Expectations and Reality

 

What are your expectations? About what? Well, about anything, I guess. About life in general. What are my expectations? Well, I guess it depends on what area of life you ask me about. The surprising thing is, I bet if I were to ask people what they’re expectations are in an area of life, they may not even know what to say. But I’m sure they would know when they weren’t being met.

So, let’s talk about expectations in relation to reality. We have expectations in most areas of our lives (that we care about anyway). My expectations are different from yours and yours are different from mine. Some of us have higher expectations than others. That could be why some of us are so hard to live with. But there’s often a gap between expectation and reality. That gap is called frustration. And the amount of frustration we experience will depend on the size of that gap.

Anyway, let’s say a husband has expectations of his wife. He expects her to make sure dinner is ready when he gets home. When that doesn’t happen his expectations aren’t met and that results in him getting frustrated. Then, let’s say you reverse the situation. The wife has expectations of the husband. She expects him to fix the broken garage door. And when that doesn’t happen in a timely manner, her expectations aren’t met and that results in her getting frustrated. I’m sure neither of these scenarios have ever happened in the real world. Anyway, I guess the thing to ask ourselves at these times is, ‘Do our expectations match reality’?

Probably the answer to this question is often pretty subjective. A lot of this depends on our perspective. We place different levels of importance on some things than other people do. Therefore, it may be difficult for us to understand someone who doesn’t have the same priorities. For this reason, we may need to cut the other person some slack, due to this understanding. When we do that we can not only lessen our frustration, but also prevent the occurrence of a huge blow-up, or argument.

We may often underestimate how much we value met expectations in our lives. That’s why franchise fast-food restaurants are so successful. I mean, we certainly don’t go there for the high quality of food. Practically their entire business model is built around providing consistency. We go there because we know what we’re going to get. We could take a risk and go to some other non-franchise restaurant we’ve never heard of, but we would rather go to the franchise due to the consistency. Think about that—we would rather put up with poor quality instead of unmet expectations. Interesting, huh? We humans are interesting creatures, aren’t we?

 

…Let’s go deeper

I think the comfort we have as believers is knowing we have a reason to be expectant when we base those expectations on God’s word. His word is true and we can know that what He says will come to pass when we do what it says. There are all kinds of verses God has given us talking about what we can expect.

Jeremiah 29:11 say, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” This is a good one for us to always remember at the outset. God wants us to hope for and expect a good future for ourselves. We can know that not only was this true for Jeremiah, but that it’s true for us as well. He only wants good things for us. It’s important for us to remember this, especially in the hard times. It’s then that we need to remember that God is working these things for our good. Like it says in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.”

In Proverbs 23:17-18 it says, “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.” God lets us know that there’s a reward for us that we can expect in the end. Our trust in him and His word results in His promises manifesting in our lives.

Zinc helps to block the enzyme responsible for breaking testosterone down into estrogen – thereby helping to keep testosterone levels deeprootsmag.org order viagra high and blood rushing through reproductive organs for complete performance. Frequent Urination Well, the free cialis sample first thing that they will assess is your medical history. Such device is generally safe and effective where a cylinder is placed over the penis and vacuum is created inside the cylinder. no prescription levitra Flaxseed, fishes like tuna and viagra india online salmon, pumpkin seeds and Walnuts to boost sex drive. Sometimes God requires action on our part for our expectations to be met. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” In this case, not worrying, with prayer, and thanksgiving brings about our expectation from Him.

Sometimes our expectations are met when we just wait on Him. Once we’ve done everything else we just need to wait. Psalms 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation [is] from him.” Once we’ve done all we know to do, all that’s left for us to do is wait on Him to bring to pass that thing we are expecting from Him.”

Of course there are a number of verses in the Bible referring to expectations. I probably can’t fit anymore in this post. God gives us reason, though to expect things from Him. We can know that our expectations match reality when they match what His word says.

Jeremiah 29:11 say, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.”

Proverbs 23:17-18 it says, “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Psalms 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation [is] from him.” In some circumstances all that’s left for us to do is wait on Him to bring to pass that thing we are expecting from Him.”

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