Underwhelming Expectations

A few weeks ago, I had meeting a scheduled first thing in the morning. I arrived to this meeting with a set of expectations. I knew what I wanted to say in this meeting. I knew what I wanted to get out of this meeting. I knew what I wanted to leave with at the end of this meeting.

My vision was clear. My expectations were set.

As the meeting began, it was clear to me that my expectations weren’t going to be met. They were going to be exceeded. In fact, the longer the meeting went on, the more I realized just how small my thinking was. As we continued our discussion, I felt embarrassed…embarrassed by my small vision and my inability to see God’s larger movement.

The truth is that if I had gone into this meeting determined to have my expectations met, I would have left feeling satisfied. But I would have missed something so much bigger; so much better; so much more impactful.

I wonder how many times I’ve done that with God? I wonder how many times I’ve gone to God with my plan…my agenda…my vision…my expectations and demanded my way. I wonder how many times I’ve underwhelmed God with my expectations?

I wonder how many times my relationship with Him had an opportunity to go to a deeper level if I would have not demanded He meet my expectations but allowed myself to be overwhelmed by His?

Maybe you’ve resigned in your mind that your job will never fulfill you. You just need to put in your time. You can’t stand your boss. They don’t appreciate you. You feel like you’re wasting your life. So you expect very little. You give very little. You get very little in return. Maybe you are missing out on the eternal expectations God has for you in your career? Maybe your job sucks because you expect it to suck.

Maybe your relational world just consists of superficial relationships. You used to have high expectations of friendships…but over the course of time, disappointment and conflict and bitterness have realigned your expectations. Now you don’t expect much. You won’t be hurt if you don’t invest much. So you expect little…and little is what you are getting.

Maybe the reason that you are unimpressed and disinterested in your marriage these days is because you have underwhelming expectations. You just don’t expect it to be good anymore. If you don’t get your hopes up, then you won’t be disappointed. So you sacrifice what could be amazing and wonderful for the safety of not expecting much. It is totally underwhelming. Maybe the reason you are consistently disappointed with your spouse is because you expect to be. You’ve created the box your marriage lives in.

What if fulfillment in your career or intimacy in your marriage or depth in your relationships was limited only by your underwhelming expectations? What if God has something so much bigger in store for you in one of these areas, and you are missing it?

Don’t mistake satisfaction for God’s blessing. Sometimes we are too easily satisfied.