Expectations are seductive. \u00a0They can feel exciting. \u00a0Consuming. \u00a0Addictive. \u00a0And like every other addiction known to humankind, the outcome can be disappointing, oftentimes to the point of personal destruction. \u00a0Our expectations ensnare us because of our insecurities, I think. \u00a0We want a certain person or situation or experience to satisfy us in a specific way, and that’s destined to be a set-up for disappointment which is then commonly followed by resentment. \u00a0i speak from a place of authority because of multiple past experiences with both expectations and resentments. \u00a0They do go hand in hand.<\/p>\n
One of the bigger issues when talking about expectations though is that they keep us side-tracked from God. \u00a0If we are fretting over the outcome we think we must have, we have launched our expectations unreasonably high, thus denying the role God has in our experiences and every outcome for every one of the experiences. \u00a0It’s a simple equation, actually. \u00a0What we should experience, we will.<\/strong> \u00a0It’s our job to show up, embrace the experience,<\/strong> allow God to show us what the lesson is, and then incorporate it into the tapestry we are weaving under his direction<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n Expectations, in and of themselves, can forecast our direction and that’s not necessarily bad. \u00a0It puts me in mind of the “vision boards” many of us created in our youth or even in early recovery, perhaps. \u00a0That’s when I made mine. \u00a0If we don’t have an idea of what we want, or where we want to go, we may not recognize it when it comes. \u00a0But God may have another idea.<\/strong> \u00a0And that’s where the inner turmoil arises. \u00a0Our “vision” may not be consistent with the lesson God wants us to experience. \u00a0We can fight His lesson, but ultimately it’s<\/strong> the one that will transform our lives and put us on the path to wholeness, the place where we need to be, the place we were born to inhabit.<\/p>\n It’s really rather exciting to think of our lives unfolding in this way. \u00a0Don’t you think? \u00a0There is a “drama” in play. \u00a0We may be in act two or three, by now, depending on our age. \u00a0Assuredly, many of the scenes<\/em> in any one of the acts might have been difficult to experience. \u00a0What we can know for sure, however, is that \u00a0God was the “director” and the play is unfolding as it must. \u00a0It will continue to unfold as it must. \u00a0And that’s the reassuring message we have been prepared for. \u00a0Letting God direct while we play the “lead,on occasion and a minor role in the drama of others too.<\/p>\n Being in God’s “drama” rather than our own makes so much more sense. \u00a0It’s so much more peaceful too. \u00a0And we didn’t even have to try out for “the lead.” \u00a0It was ours to play all along.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Expectations are seductive. \u00a0They can feel exciting. \u00a0Consuming. \u00a0Addictive. \u00a0And like every other addiction known to humankind, the outcome can be disappointing, oftentimes to the point of personal destruction. \u00a0Our expectations ensnare us because of our insecurities, I think. \u00a0We want a certain person or situation or experience to satisfy us in a specific way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself","category-what-i-believe-you-and-your-higher-power"],"yoast_head":"\n