THOUGHT: Expectations

Do you realize how many times we believe that someone should do something or respond in a certain way? I certainly realize it when they don't do what I believe they should. It can be something as simple as a courtesy wave from the car that I just let in. If I don't get "the wave" then there is a sense of violation; my expectations were not met, and I don't like it frankly.
When we allow expectations to grow up in something like a friendship, well then we have problems. Those expectations, spoken or unspoken, have allowed law to enter into what used to be a dynamic interplay. I now expect you to perform in a way that meets my expectations and I have allowed rules and requirements (death) to take precedence over living relationship. It is no longer about you and me, but about what friends are supposed to do, or the responsibility of a good friend.
Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt, shame and judgment, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value. You all know well what it is like to not live up to someone's expectations.
God has no 'expectations' of us. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behaviour to get the desired result. Humans try to control behaviour largely through expectations. God knows you and everything about you. Why would He have an expectation other than what He already knows? That would be foolish. And beyond that, because He has no expectations, YOU NEVER DISAPPOINT GOD.

--with thanks to Wm Paul Young and "The Shack"

g-ram