expectations

We live in life with many expectations. I suppose most of them we take for granted. But when they don't happen, such as our car getting us to work, then we can be quite unhappy. Other expectations are things that we anticipate in life. Such as finding a soul mate and getting married. Or landing the job we've been working towards in our education or training. Or expecting God to do certain things in our lives, based on our theological understanding of his Word, of him and his promises to us.

In Scot McKnight's book, The Real Mary, we find that Mary, as well as many of Jesus' followers during that time, had to work through unrealized expectations. In fact Jesus fulfilling God's promises as given to Mary by the angel Gabriel, as well as from her reading of Scripture as expressed in "the Magnificat", was not at all like Mary had envisioned. She tried to correct her son along the way. But instead had to learn to trust and follow him.

We too, as those in Jesus have "visions" and "dreams" of how things can, should and even will take place, especially when we're younger in our faith. But as we grow older, we begin to see some of these ideals and goals slip away. And what we encounter is not at all like what we had thought God would surely bring to pass.

But if we continue on, steadfast in our faith in God, in spite of, and even because of the unrealizations in life we encounter, we will begin to see God's hand and his grace on us. In ways we would not have predicted before. But we'll find that he and his promises are true. Even though this truth is different than what we had comprehended before, though the words are the same. We then seek and learn to line up our lives according to his working and revelation to us.

Is it good to have strong expectations, especially as one young in the faith (even as Mary did, as expressed in her song)? What is a part of our journey of faith in regard to those expectations? How has that played out in your own life?