Misplaced Expectation…

Wanting or expecting something that was never really on offer and then getting upset about it when you don’t get it.

 

Misplaced expectations take something you would like to have happen and turn it into something you anticipate and expect will happen. When this happens, you've set yourself up for discontentment.  A desire understands that a person may or may not do what is wished, but an expectation is more pig-headed, even making decisions that depend on the fulfilment of what it wished.

 

Therefore, there’s a lot more distance to be let down when the expectation is not fulfilled; there’s a lot more to lose.  And in the wake of unmet expectations is a heart that is bitter, depressed, or anxious.

 

When we’re feeling incomplete, we tend to go out looking for somebody else to complete us.  Initially we meet someone who’s compatible with us and they distract us from our deficiency, at least for a while.  Then a few months or years into the relationship, we find that we’re still feeling incomplete, so we blame our spouse.

 

Ultimately what we need to realize is that while a spouse can add beautiful dimensions to your life, You are responsible for your own fulfilment. Only you can complete yourself.  Nobody else can provide your missing pieces, and to believe otherwise is to succumb to a lifetime of feeling broken, as every relationship you enter eventually ends in hopeless disappointment.

 

As well-intentioned as we are, we humans often do not do what we say we’re going to do, we are All work in progress and should be treated as so. This does not mean that we are not to take responsibility for our actions; it means that we are to be held accountable when we fall short of the mark and offer grace and forgiveness to redeem the wrong.

 

So if there is a desire or a need to place expectations on someone let’s place our expectations on the one who will always keep his Word and rest in the delight of seeing those expectations never going unmet God Himself.