29 May 2012

Unmet Expectations


Greetings Dear Reader,

We have all had this experience.  We go to a movie that has had excellent previews and a good opening weekend.  Excitement is shared and all goes still as the opening scene unfolds.  At some point it dawns on us that the movie is terrible.  When this happens I feel a great sense of disappointment.  I expected something and it did not pan out.

I wonder how often my disappointment or dissatisfaction is a result of my own expectations.  This is one of those things that I struggle with often.  One must have an expectation to be disappointed.  When I place an expectation on someone else I am being unjust.  While everyone has obligations regarding how we treat each other then I must think of others before my own wants.

When I put myself first by expecting things from others I am not treating them well.  I am also setting myself up for disappointment.  They only one who can meet my expectations is God.  Only in Christ will I never find disappointment.  Only in Christ will I realize the meeting of my needs and the attention to my spirit that will satisfy.

If I feel that my expectations are unmet then I need to revisit those expectations through the lens of Christ and his example.  The journey is much more difficult if I do not view things through Christ.  If it is Christ I am following then I must learn from his example as regarding what I expect of others. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

2 comments:

  1. I appreciate your thoughts on this topic, as expectation in relationship is something I've been wrestling with for a few months. I am still at the point where I don't know how to be in relationship without expectations - that of keeping a confidence, the expectation the person will keep their word, etc. I don't know how to be in relationship with zero expectations.

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  2. Anonymous31/5/12 12:58

    This is always a hard one, for as individuals there is always needs we have and desires that we wish fulfilment within. Recently i had the opportunity to offer unconditional love to someone. Unconditional love refers to a state of mind in which the individual has the goal of increasing the welfare of another, despite any evidence of benefit for them self. It is the type of love that Christ offers us. If one is able to find their fulfilment in not what they recieve but what they give, the love cup never ends up empty. Its only when there is an expectation there that we fill we are entitled to a return. I wish i could say that i have conquered this in every area but saddly i have not. I have friends that constantly let me down, online friends are even harder to deal with. But i continually push my mind to how my long distance relationship with Christ is, and remember to love and not expect. It is what we learn with and infant in our arms it has no capable way of loving back and often extremely demanding, and yet we are capable of loving it with no expectations.

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