Saturday, August 15, 2009

“Expectations – 101” ...Blog


“Expectations – 101” Blog.

This week… I was examining the concept of… ‘Expectations’. We all… ‘hope’… that it will be a ‘better year’… due to “ALL”… the financial reversals, job losses, and general economic downturn. Even the vacation that I am planning for later this year… ‘may’ make me a prisoner. But have we = you or I = become… “A Prisoner of those Expectations?”

What IF… things get worse? What if “YOU”… lose your house, your job or even your ‘health’? How about the death of a… ‘Parent, Spouse, Child… or even, something much worse?’ How about… Your Mind? Alzheimer’s has an ever growing ‘stronghold’ on many, and will continue to grow. Many of these things… ‘Worries & Unfounded Concerns’… will surely… “Hold us prisoner of those… Expectations!”

Well you say… we should plan and have a ‘positive outlook’… on ‘my/our’… outlook towards the future! Is having a positive attitude… really going ‘to change’ our thinking about… “The Reality of the Future”?


IF… I believe the moon… is made of ‘green cheese’… THEN… does that make it so? How about a negative attitude? IF… I believe that ‘things’ are going to get worse for our nation… THEN… does that in itself become a… ‘Self Fulfilling Prophecy?’

Remember in school… how you thought you were going… ‘To Pass’… that test, because you ‘knew [believed] you had studied enough’? Only to find out, that… that ‘quadratic equation’ =or= that ‘dangling participle’… was not solved or understood… as you had thought? You needed to… “Retool Your Thinking”? …And then you passed the next test!

With all these thoughts… do we sometimes just… stop thinking - about the future? It is ‘not what’ we think about… that will give us a ‘New Perspective’ of our expectations! Will our Nation get better and over these tremendous financial reversals? Will things get better or will they get worse. Or have you given up and decided it is not worth the mental effort? Recently I saw this on a bumper sticker

“Since I gave up… ‘All Hope’… I feel… Much Better!”

Did you start… a new career with doubts as to its outcome? Were you overcome because things did not turn out as you had planned… or even hopped? Did you marry… only to find that… “Mr. or Miss Right”… ‘Were really… Wrong?’ Have you jumped out of a ‘sticky situation’ only to find that the ‘New One’… is even worse? To your dismay, your… ‘Expectations’… soon became your… ‘Prison Guard!’

Do things not… bring the ‘expectations’, that you expected? Does that new cell phone really make you ‘a slave’ to it or do you even have the discipline to… ‘Turn It Off?” Does that big screen “TV”, leave you with a… ‘Higher Electric Bill’… that you were ‘not’ told about? Are your ‘Expectations’ being fulfilled… or Not?

We all plan… and hope that things will work out. But what exactly do you ‘hope in or for?’ Do you ‘hope’ that your new love… will love you too to your Expectations? Is that new boss… showing his or her… ‘real nature’… now that the pressure is on them too? Do you perform according to their… ‘Expectations’… or them to yours?

It is the… “Who”… our faith is in… that will give us… “Hope”… No Matter . The… “Who”… is in the Finished Work of… “Christ Jesus”...! He is the ‘One’ that holds our future… “The Good – The Bad – and – The Ugly!”

Habakkuk 3:17-18-19 (Amplified Bible)
(17) Though the fig tree = does not blossom = and = there is no fruit on the vines, = [though] the product of the olive fails = and = the fields yield no food, = though the flock is cut off from the fold = and = there are no cattle in the stalls,
(18) Yet I will rejoice = in the Lord; = I will exult in the [victorious] God = of my salvation!
(19) The Lord God = is my Strength, = my personal bravery, = and = my invincible army; = He makes my feet like hinds' feet = and = will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, = but to walk] = and = make [spiritual] progress = upon my high places [of Trouble, = Suffering, = or Responsibility]! For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments.

In all the… “Trials & Tribulations & Stresses” of LIFE… IF… “Christ Jesus” is your focus… THEN… even in the failure of… “All we hold so dear”… YOU Will NOT Become… “A Prisoner of… ‘Your’ Expectations!”

Thanks for Your EAR! Roger //Email// roger459@gmail.com