Day #12

Very interesting Bible study today — really it was a continuation from last week. We talked about having expectations that are unreal and how to respond when they are unmet. It’s difficult to think that we cannot expect our spouses, children, friends, spiritual brothers and sisters to behave the way we want them to or the way we think they should. When we go into relationships, we do not expect to get hurt, but sometimes we do get hurt. One of the ladies prayed today, “Father we have high expectations of You. You are the only One who will never disappoint us. You told us to be holy, for you are holy.”
My rabbi has said, from the prespective of the Father, “Be ye holy, but don’t be holier than me.” Probably unbeknownst to us, we become holier than God by having higher expectations of others than God does. He knows our frame. He knows that we are dust. He knows that we will fail. He gives us hope by saying that we can be forgiven of that sin and picked up when we fall. Yet we have unreal expectations of each other – even greater than God does. This is the way we behave: Our children will not fail. Our husbands will always be dependable. Our spiritual family will always be supportive! Boy, have we set up ourselves to be disappointed and to be very, very unhappy. When our focus is on others and not on God we will always have unmet expectations because the only One we can put all of our trust in is God.

Abba, help us to realize that the arms of flesh will fail us. Our children, our spouses, our friends and our spiritual family are not divine; they are very human. They will indeed make mistakes. . . but we cannot allow our worlds to be shattered completely WHEN they do. Forgive us for our pride and ignorance in trying to be holier than you. And thank you for removing the unbearable weight of unmet expectations. We expect much of you, O God! Amen!