When we were younger, we looked forward to being with friends, play dates, winning games and family vacations. As we moved into the teen and young adult years, we looked forward to homecoming, prom, graduation, college and getting married. As the married years progressed, we got excited with the thought of starting a new family.
It is so easy to live in expectation when there’s a baby on the way. My family has been blessed with one new niece and nephew, but what has raised the level of excitement is that there’s one more baby due this year. During the pregnancies, it was easy to maintain the level of excitement because there was outward evidence of what was going on inwardly. It was easy to imagine or try to predict what side of the family the baby would look like. Although, of course, none of us truly knew, it was fun to think and talk about.
God expects us to live with that type of high expectation as a life style. He desires for us to welcome each day in expectancy. Often times, when we are in the middle of a tough situation, we focus on the problem. If we choose to, it can asphyxiate us. Our anxiety levels can control us and cause us to live in misery. When our source and our trust is not in God, it removes the chance for Him to work on our behalf and keeps us a prisoner of our circumstances.
Past failures also cause us to wade in unhappiness. For some reason, failures seem to loom over our heads and remind us how much we lack. It stops us from moving forward and keeps us trapped in the illusion of contentment. We go as far as to compare ourselves with others (grandpa was a small-time this…) and we identify and resign our fate to be within the same plight. We do not stretch ourselves although God expects us to live life to the fullest and at our best.
Unmet goals are also a source of discontentment. When we first start out towards a goal, we go after it with all that we’ve got. After a few days, weeks or months, we fizzle out if we do not see fast results or if things don’t turn out the way we want them to. We become complacent and find no need to try harder. If disappointment happens often enough, it can shift a person into existence. They no longer live. The events that excited them and the goals that stimulated them, become dreams of the past. They settle for the doldrums of routine and life becomes a clutter of things that have to get done without much thought.
Sounds depressing…who wants to live like that? None of us do, but a lot of us fall into some type of rut once in a while.
Why is it that we lose sight of what can be? Perhaps because it’s easier to live in lack and depressed. This may sound harsh, but change requires work and most of us don’t want to because everything around us has made life effortless. Can’t cook, don’t worry…you can go to a drive-thru and pick up dinner. Forget about snail mail…we’ve got email. Have to pay bills…online banking makes it a cinch. What’s sad is that all these progressive-technological changes has adjusted our attitude, and we have settled for less or nothing. We lose out on the most important part of our being, that of living out our purpose.
To live in expectation requires us to recognize who we are and why we are here. If you can’t answer those two questions with sincerity, you will live a frustrated life. It’s not enough to seek out after spirituality. There are many mediums today that encourage us to discover our spiritual side. All of them try to provide a path that will lead you to answer those two pressing questions, but most fall short because God has been taken out of the equation.
Why is it important to keep God in the equation?
When you have relationship with God, you reach the understanding that He is the one that deposits dreams into your heart. Not only does He deposit dreams, but He also provides the validation needed to move forward in fulfilling those dreams. When you understand that you have been validated before you were born; when you understand that you were purposely created; when you understand that your unique gift was designed specifically for you alone, it propels you to live in expectation. You can’t help it.
It is so easy to live in expectation when there’s a baby on the way. My family has been blessed with one new niece and nephew, but what has raised the level of excitement is that there’s one more baby due this year. During the pregnancies, it was easy to maintain the level of excitement because there was outward evidence of what was going on inwardly. It was easy to imagine or try to predict what side of the family the baby would look like. Although, of course, none of us truly knew, it was fun to think and talk about.
God expects us to live with that type of high expectation as a life style. He desires for us to welcome each day in expectancy. Often times, when we are in the middle of a tough situation, we focus on the problem. If we choose to, it can asphyxiate us. Our anxiety levels can control us and cause us to live in misery. When our source and our trust is not in God, it removes the chance for Him to work on our behalf and keeps us a prisoner of our circumstances.
Past failures also cause us to wade in unhappiness. For some reason, failures seem to loom over our heads and remind us how much we lack. It stops us from moving forward and keeps us trapped in the illusion of contentment. We go as far as to compare ourselves with others (grandpa was a small-time this…) and we identify and resign our fate to be within the same plight. We do not stretch ourselves although God expects us to live life to the fullest and at our best.
Unmet goals are also a source of discontentment. When we first start out towards a goal, we go after it with all that we’ve got. After a few days, weeks or months, we fizzle out if we do not see fast results or if things don’t turn out the way we want them to. We become complacent and find no need to try harder. If disappointment happens often enough, it can shift a person into existence. They no longer live. The events that excited them and the goals that stimulated them, become dreams of the past. They settle for the doldrums of routine and life becomes a clutter of things that have to get done without much thought.
Sounds depressing…who wants to live like that? None of us do, but a lot of us fall into some type of rut once in a while.
Why is it that we lose sight of what can be? Perhaps because it’s easier to live in lack and depressed. This may sound harsh, but change requires work and most of us don’t want to because everything around us has made life effortless. Can’t cook, don’t worry…you can go to a drive-thru and pick up dinner. Forget about snail mail…we’ve got email. Have to pay bills…online banking makes it a cinch. What’s sad is that all these progressive-technological changes has adjusted our attitude, and we have settled for less or nothing. We lose out on the most important part of our being, that of living out our purpose.
To live in expectation requires us to recognize who we are and why we are here. If you can’t answer those two questions with sincerity, you will live a frustrated life. It’s not enough to seek out after spirituality. There are many mediums today that encourage us to discover our spiritual side. All of them try to provide a path that will lead you to answer those two pressing questions, but most fall short because God has been taken out of the equation.
Why is it important to keep God in the equation?
When you have relationship with God, you reach the understanding that He is the one that deposits dreams into your heart. Not only does He deposit dreams, but He also provides the validation needed to move forward in fulfilling those dreams. When you understand that you have been validated before you were born; when you understand that you were purposely created; when you understand that your unique gift was designed specifically for you alone, it propels you to live in expectation. You can’t help it.
It’s not enough to know it. You have to take it to the next level and understand it. You may know that a car works because it takes you from one place to another, but you may not understand what’s inside the car that makes it work. The outward evidence of your lifestyle is based on your understanding of God’s word and promises inwardly.
Take a serious look at your life. Do you love waking up in the morning or do you dread it? You have a choice. You can continue to believe that life will not get better, or you can know that life gets better and better everyday. You can look forward to nothing or you can know that there’s a rainbow over each horizon. Proverbs says hope deferred makes the heart sick. Don’t waste another moment. Hope and Live.