Lowering our expectations of others will lead to less heartache and disappointment.
When we have expectations, even if they aren’t to far fetched in our thinking, from people and they don’t do or say what we expect of them, it’s a huge upset isn’t it?
I used to be one of the worst about having high expectations from others. While I still have expectations, I’m learning to keep them on a lower scale. It is best to lower them rather than to have them so high that it’s out of reach for any one to even accomplish.
For example; I expected nothing but the best behavior from my children growing up, especially when we were in public places. Often times, I expected way more than what they were even capable of for the age and maturity level they were at. When they didn’t live up to my expectations, I would get very upset. I gave my life to Christ in 2009 and He began to convict me about a lot of things, with one being my own behavior and how I was being as a Mom and wife to the three people in my life that I loved the most. God showed me through His Word and with help from those that He had put in my life during my born again stage, that some, not all, of my expectations from my kiddos were so far out of their reach that they wouldn’t be able to meet them even if they tried. Of course I apologized to both of my children for my actions over the span of their lives, up to that point, once I began to see the error in my ways as I began to expect less and less from them. God showed me that lowering my expectations of others, especially my two babies (always Momma’s babies), would help me to not get so angry and disappointed in them. It helped me to not lose my joy as I learned how to remain in control of my responses to them.
I still am not perfect, nor will I ever be, because I will forever be a work in progress. But I am a lot better at not setting myself up for so much heartache or disappointment. It still happens because we humans are so flawed but thankfully we can be forgiven by our families, friends, and anyone else in our lives that’s willing to forgive, but most importantly we can be forgiven by our Father in Heaven if we ask for forgiveness and repent (turn from) from our hurtful behavior.
Most life lessons are not easily learned but the key is that we do learn from each one of our mistakes because we will daily make them. It is so important to ask for forgiveness, forgive others, and love one another through the mistakes we make. And, since no one is perfect, we have lots of time and ways to learn from one another through this thing called life.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Life and Love 