Expectations…
I have a lot of them, especially at the start of new seasons.
I’m a dreamer, a visionary. In my head I play out how life is going to go and then I plan accordingly.
It works, sometimes. But usually I’m left a little frustrated and occasionally feeling defeated. There are beautiful God ordained moments tucked into the everyday and incredible progress. But if those pesky expectations that I had so much fun dreaming up aren’t met, my emotions get the better of me and it all feels for naught.
We’ve been travelling and or hanging out with family who came to Arizona for the last half of December and the first few days of the new year. It’s been busy, messy, and yes, beautiful. This last weekend dawned with an invitation from a friend to tackle a freezer cooking session. {She’s officially hooked me on OnceaMonthMeals.} She prepped a lot. I talked… and still managed to get some cooking done.
Then lesson planning commenced with fervor. My goal: to hit the ground running on Monday. Sunday’s sermon, ironically, addressed this very topic. Isn’t it crazy how God does that sometimes? He spoke to my pastor and prompted him to preach on the importance of learning to listen and not fall into the American obsession of hitting the ground running (yep, he used those exact words).
While I diligently worked to pull things together that afternoon I quickly realized there was no way to pull it all together. I was not going to hit the ground running on Monday.
God spoke to me in that moment (and I listened!). He reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend as we prepped those freezer meals. Her word for the year was “acceptance”. In this moment, God led me to “borrow” her word. I not only accepted the situation, I embraced it.
I remembered:
…this season is short.
…drink in the moment.
…it’s about relationships.
The result:
VICTORY over my nemesis, Expectations! At least in the skirmish called Monday.
Slipping back into routine is rarely easy for us, but I have to admit that the biggest problem is always, ALWAYS my expectations. But not this week.
Instead we embraced sunshine, delighted in a new read aloud, played with numbers, worked through conflict, and tackled heart issues. It wasn’t easy. But it was good.
We even embraced week 5 without a car and embarked on a “Walk Across the Neighborhood” in honor of our new read-aloud A Walk Across America.*
Trey-man insisted on bringing protection because what adventure isn’t complete without weapons? And Greta, sweet Greta, is in love with her new backpack and I only ended up hauling her on my back with the ladybug backpack in hand for half of our 2 mile jaunt.
*I have the fondest memories of my mom reading A Walk Across America when I was a girl and I’m thrilled to be reading it to my kids now. But I will say that I called my mom because I didn’t remember some of the stuff at the beginning – you know unsaved college student in the early 1970’s kind of stuff. It does deal with some more mature themes (in a very subtle way) in the beginning of the book. My kids and I had a fascinating discussion on things like Woodstock, Vietnam, the 60’s/70’s and God’s design for relationships…
Oh my yes. My word is “discernment” this year and in the process I am learning to let go of A LOT of expectations. It’s so funny how I realize that what God wants from me seems so much easier and so much less work than what the rest of the world expects.
Now I just have to work on not apologizing for it.
I’m one of those women who hits the ground running in the morning, even though one of my productive activities is half an hour of prayer every morning. I love the word acceptance that shows a yielding to God’s will rather than our own plans, and I do want to live more in the moment and enjoy instead of being so productive.
PS – Kacia has the exact same backpack and loves it just as much!
Heather, this was great. I appreciate hearing how others hear from God and what they hear. It is an encouragement that we should always be listening and that when He speaks it is such awesome proof of a living God how desires relationship with us…… if only we give Him the time.
Thanks again for letting us borrow your house. No doubt we contributed to the busyness of your season, but it was a tremendous blessing to us.
I’ve seen the once a month meals, and have been tempted but haven’t ever put the effort into it. However, the idea of making it a day of fun with friends makes me think I could do it. Might bring it up with a couple friends and see what they say. Would love to hear what you think when the month is through and if you would be inclined to do it again.
My family loved all of the meals we made from that site so far!
Loved this post! I have been dealing with similar practical and heart issues….we unexpectedly had a new job opportunity come up for my husband that had us moving within two weeks across state lines (on thanksgiving weekend). Then I was a whirlwind of unpacking and setting up for Christmas. Now as I stare at the new year i was feeling a bit directionless (i lost my two co-ops when we moved) but with VERY high expectations of what I should be doing with the kids.
Once I got my expectations more reasonable with help from the Holy Spirit and my kind husband I was able to evaluate and plan for us more peacefully.
Know what I ended up with? :o) My kids had gotten both knight and cowboy playmobil sets for Christmas and it suddenly occurred to me that the Obedience unit be a perfect fit for us right now! I pulled it out and we are hoping to start (with a gentle jog, not running start ;o) Monday.
By the way, I remember my mom reading Walk Across America to us too. We loved it.
Wonderful, and so true. I often get so stuck in my expectations that I miss the delightful all around us. I am going to check out A Walk Across America 🙂
Thank you for posting. 🙂 I struggle with this as well – high expectations of how things should go, only to be bombarded with the unexpected (spilled juice on the couch, dog poops on the floor, dinner is taking longer than normal to prep, etc.).
What a delightful post. And a message for us all – to let go of the high expectations and to live the life we have.