Expectations

Over the past few years (on the days between Christmas and NYE) I have experienced a Christmas hangover. Not a hangover from the result of too much alcohol, but an emotional hangover. The build up of Christmas can bring so much (self-induced) pressure to make things magical (especially when you're a Mom to little people). So, I planned, shopped, wrapped, baked, cleaned, showed up to all the parties and events, shopped more, wrapped more and cleaned more until I realized I was so busy doing ALL.THE.THINGS that I missed out on experiencing the true joy of the season. After the "shock and awe" of Christmas, I was left feeling disappointed, empty and regretful and couldn't really understand why. This past Sunday, at our candlelight Christmas service, pastor Scott said something that really stood out to me . It lined up perfectly with something I've been working on all year (expectations). He said "we expect things of this world that the world can not deliver. If we love anything more than God, we will crush that object under the weight of our expectations". I was putting my expectation of a "magical Christmas" in the things of this world, so of course I was going to be left feeling disappointed.

This year feels different. I am experiencing happier emotions on these days after Christmas. I'm feeling refreshed, at peace and so incredibly grateful. I can attribute these feelings to a few different choices I made (the best one being that I would go into the Christmas season with the mindset to be fully present) but most of the credit goes to lots of time in prayer. We (Matt and I) decided that we were going to put focus on serving and giving. We said "no" to some parties and events. We didn't give gifts to everybody we wanted to. As a family, we decided where we would spend our energy and our money. We let the kids "play hooky" from school a couple of days to just recharge and enjoy the season (and each other). We took the focus off of Santa and put it on celebrating the fact that we get to have a relationship with Jesus, and in receiving Him in our hearts, we are free to make good choices because we want to, not just so we stay on a "nice list".


If I'm not careful, my expectations can set me up for huge disappointment. When my expectations are misdirected, I put so much pressure on my family and friends and when they don't measure up, it leaves me feeling empty and regretful. When I let the expectations of others guide my decisions and let my emotions control, I feel resentful because I end up doing things I really don't even want to (and shouldn't) do. So, I'm learning to always look to God and trust Him. His promises are absolutely sound and our expectation that He will fulfill His word can be trusted. We can expect God to do exactly what He says He will do. When we base our expectations on God's word, and not the things of this world, our expectations will always be met and we will be left feeling full, complete and joyful.


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