Hope deferred makes the heart sick, ...... (Proverbs 13:12, ESV)
Hope in mankind is flighty at best. Expectations often disappoint. Too many unfulfilled expectations can also make the heart sick. My friend Carolyn W. says, "expectations are premeditated resentment." We just set ourselves up.
All relationships tend to involve expectations. It's how one manages those expectations that dictates the quality of one's life. False hope and unrealistic expectations are the RX for disappointment.
Daughter Molly and I discussed many such weighty topics yesterday during the intermission at Hattieloo's "If Scrooge was a Brother" production. The various trials of friends, our own fears and anxieties---the woes of the world and the woes of our own little world. Not exactly theater conversation but heartfelt reflection all the same.
There tends to be expectations of perfection in life. Even expectations of people----which one probably needs to let go of---or at least "manage" correctly. When one sets perfection as a goal---that is mismanagement and negative feelings are the result. Anger and sadness emerge from the one who has SET the expectations. On the other hand, the emotions of anxiety and shame can result in the one who is trying to meet those unrealistic expectations of the other person, be it boss or spouse or parent.
Years ago, son Josh, listened to NPR's "Prairie Home Companion." Lake Wobegon the fictional town of Garrison Keiller, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
To me, the name itself rings of WOES BE GONE!! That's the only way all those so -called perfect people could exist---in fiction! In reality, one needs freedom from dependence on man and transfer that dependence to God.
The way to sip from a cuppa liber-TEA is to align our desires and hopes with the Lord's will and let go of unrealistic expectations---because perfection only resides with Him....or possibly at Lake Wobegon.
