Lowered Expectations

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**


  In fear of being disappointed we lower our expectations of God. We pray yet do not trust. We ask yet do not expect anything in return. Yes, it is good to hold things loosely but that is different than lowering our expectations.

  I tend to lower my expectations because I don't want to be disappointed. I do not hope in order that those hopes are not dashed. I expect little from God because I do not believe that how He will answer will be enough.

  How about you? Do you approach God with lowered expectations or with great trust, believing He is good and able?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Gracious Waiting

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Impatient dominates. I get so frustrated as I wait for my children to do something I have asked them to. I ask them again and again and yet they need more time than I have allotted and need more time than I expect. Possessing a pretty strong internal time clock I have expectations of how long something should take. Wait a minute … these expectations are of how long it takes ME. Shoot … I have got to slow. it. down. They need a break, they need for me to have real expectations and they need me to graciously wait.
  
    My children, and others, need me to graciously wait. To wait as they climb into the car, as they brush their teeth, as they eat, as they speak, as they pull out of a parking space, as they walk, as they learn and as they grow.

    I have grown accustomed to quick service and immediate results to my requests and sometimes I am just mean. Yet God calls me to slow down, to wait, to watch and maybe even enjoy another’s pace. I miss out on so much as my unrealistic expectations lead and I withhold grace.

    How will you offer someone grace today? How will you go at their pace rather than your own? 

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Be Gentle

**Sit quietly, eyes closed and in silence for one minute before reading.**
 
    Be gentle to yourself today. You treat yourself harsher than others. You do not perform up to an expectation and you attack yourself with the most unkind words and thoughts.

    Be gentle with yourself, be patient. Expect that you will not meet all your expectations or the expectations of others. When you fail, be gentle with yourself and remember the gentleness with which God cares for you.

    Be gentle.

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**

Expectations

**Sit quietly, eyes closed in silence for one minute before reading.**

    Expectations. We all have them. Some realistic and others not very. I find myself taking my expectations into my relationship with God and at times my frustration with Him is based on whether He has met a desire or request in the way I expected Him to. Sometimes I base whether He cares or not on whether He responds like I expect Him to. (Not a good idea, I know.)

    So as I was exploring these things I found myself reminded that God often (maybe always) does not show up how or where I expect him to. And sometimes I am frustrated with him because he has not shown up where I expected. And…he is showing up but I just can’t see him because I am so focused on him showing up a certain way (much like many during Jesus’ time on earth).

    So I found myself asking God to be able to see him wherever and however and not necessarily in the expected pictures I had painted. Very strongly he spoke to my heart saying, “I’m in your kids”. This was followed by a time of rich (and good) weeping. Even now as I write this I find myself tearing up. God is showing up through my children. Not the picture(s) I had but it is his picture and it is rich and beautiful and I am grateful.

    How has God richly surprised you by not meeting an expectation?

**Sit again in silence for as long as is available to you.**