Quotes about Expectations

Ps 23:1...So, if the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not become empty. I shall not live in a constant state of disappointment where circumstances drain me dry... How do I let the Lord shepherd me so the gap between my expectations and reality closes? (p. 115-6)

coated with unmet expectations. So, what do I do? Well, I've found it tremendously helpful to list the expectations I have of a relationship in which I'm feeling slighted. Then I prayerfully discern whether or not my expectations are realistic or unrealistic. And if I can't really discern one way or the other, I ask. I ask God. I ask that person. I ask someone wise who knows both of us well.

Usually, the most disappointing realities come from the most realistic expectations. An unmet longing from a realistic expectation is such a searing pain within a human heart.

Love can be unconditional but relational access never should be

Often, what I expect tomorrow to bring will start to play out in my attitude. I think, in some weird way, that if I expect hurt and heartbreak and hardships, this protects me from getting caught off guard. But in reality, when I do this, my negativity pulls me away from trusting God, loving people, and enjoying what today offers. And it sometimes even becomes self-fulfilled prophecies as I trade the good of today for living in fear of tomorrow.

Emasculation happens in marriage as well. Women are often attracted to the wilder side of a man, but once having caught him they settle down to the task of domesticating him. Ironically, if he gives in he'll resent her for it, and she in turn will wonder where the passion has gone.

The authors challenge that the marriage in which one cannot express disappointment has become an idol — The Thing that Cannot Be Questioned.

The authors challenge that the marriage in which one cannot express disappointment has become an idol — The Thing that Cannot Be Questioned.

Few things can mess you up as badly as trying to do your best. For the tender heart, the earnest heart, it is so discouraging to give all you have trying to do what you think Jesus would have you do, and find yourself falling short, sabotaging your own efforts at every turn. Discouragement and shame settle in like a long Seattle rain. And this is what most Christians experience as the Christian life: Try harder; feel worse.

You clean and organize; you demand perfection—did you ever wonder why?

We're all living in the shadow of that infamous icon, "The Proverbs 31 Woman," whose life is so busy I wonder, when does she have time for friendships, for taking walks, or reading good books? Her light never goes out at night? When does she have sex? Somehow she has sanctified the shame most women live under, biblical proof that yet again we don't measure up. Is that supposed to be godly—that sense that you are a failure as a woman?

The business world—where the majority of American men live and die—requires a man to be efficient and punctual. Corporate policies and procedures are designed with one aim: to harness a man to the plow and make him produce.