Reasonable Expectations

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” (I Peter 1:13-16 NIV)

My wife and I attended yesterday the wedding of a former student.  It was a beautiful day and, like all weddings, the celebration was full hope for a wonderful future for the bride and groom.  

As we mingled with other former students, now married and years removed from their college days, it was interesting to talk with them about their lives.  In between the lines, you could tell that life had been harder than they expected.  While their marriages were full of joy, as one woman put it, things had not unfolded the way she and her husband thought they would.  Ditto for the rest, and for all us, really.

It is so easy to set our hope in life on something like marriage or a career and, later, be very disappointed because it doesn’t turn out the way we had envisioned it in our minds.  We have been told most of our lives from various sources that marriage and careers are the greatest sources of satisfaction.  And so we reasonably assume they will be—until we are in the midst of them.  That is when expectations and reality collide.  And if our hope has been set on either of these, we are likely to be disappointed.  
I love being married and I love my career as a campus minister, but I have learned to have reasonable expectations of both.  There have been and will be disappointments and struggles along the way.  And while my wife or career could pass away, I will always have the Lord.  Thus, my hope is set on His grace.  

Today, recognize that marriage and careers, while they can be very good things in life, are not the things on which to set your hope in life.  Only the Lord is worthy of that honor and His grace is the only means by which we will experience true satisfaction and joy.

© Jim Musser 2013