Dear Disappointed,
WORDS // STEPHANIE BLACK
Have you ever wanted something so very much that it sort of consumes part of you? You want that thing for so long that when you get it, you almost don’t know what to do next?
You get this thing, say a job, and because you had such high expectations for it, your fellow employees, your boss, everything slowly lets you down.
The thing with expectations is, it’s all in YOUR head! Unless you tell them, no one knows what your expectations are.
We are bound to get let down because we made up some sparkly unicorn land in our mind and no one else sees it; it’s not actually reality.
Recently I have been disappointed with the way my life is turning out. The scary thing is my life from the outside looks like it's going great. You would not think that I was struggling in anyway.
But I had a really bumpy start to my job, it’s been harder than I thought and not as exciting as I expected. I have the job that I said I wanted and I’m doing what I said I wanted to do, but something inside me is missing.
I had this picture in my mind of what life should be. I spent too much time thinking about what it should be and not enough time being thankful for what it is.
Take a deep breath. Get ready to be real with yourself.
We all put some type of expectations into our daily lives. Expectations are not necessarily bad, but they are dangerous.
The danger of expectations is that they can hold you in one spot. Expectations tell your brain, “I will not let you move forward because I want you to dwell on the failure that was a past expectation gone wrong.”
Expectations will slowly poison joy and contentment because they place bitterness and regret into our minds when they are not met.
But what if, instead of putting unrealistic and unhealthy expectations on ourselves and others, we tried something new?
Psalm 62:5 says “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
It’s such a simple verse, but a good reminder to rely on the creator of all things who give us hope instead of expectations that we create out of discontentment.
What if we replace unhealthy expectations with resting in God and His grace?
With expectations we or others will fall short and feel like failures, but when resting in God’s plan we have hope instead of expectations.
We can look forward and know that our grace-filled God has a plan for our lives beyond our best expectations and imagination.
Dig up the unhealthy expectation, because when reality lets you down, only God’s Hope and his plan will be there.
Sincerely,
Kindred
PHOTO // TIM KOTHLOW