Expectations

Yesterday I got to go grocery shopping all by myself.  I can’t remember the last time that happened.  It was such a treat to be able to compare prices without having to worry about someone running off or crying or needing to go to the bathroom. 

On the way home, I was thinking about what I would find my husband and three kids doing when I arrived.  In what must have been a euphoric delusion, I imagined I would find the older kids playing with their Daddy in the front yard as the baby lay on a blanket in the sun.  The breakfast dishes would be in the dishwasher, and a load of laundry would be running in the washing machine.

Then I snapped back to reality.  I can’t even manage to get those things done most mornings.  How should I expect my husband, who is not as practiced as am I in dealing with three kids at one time, to accomplish more than what I can get done in two hours?  I chuckled to myself when I got home and found a crying baby, a sleeping two-year-old, a pile of dishes on the counter, and my husband putting grades in his grade book.

I obviously have unrealistic expectations sometimes.  Numerous times, in fact.  Usually I place these unrealistic expectations on myself or my husband.  And when I do that, the results are calamitous.  I’m almost always disappointed:  I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted; I didn’t exercise; my husband didn’t come home with flowers in his hands for me.

But, recently, I was reminded that God sometimes wants us to have unrealistic expectations.  He wants us to pray boldly and trust that he will answer boldly.  As I was driving him to school this last week, I prayed that God would give my husband an AWESOME day.  I hesitated.  That seemed like too much to ask, as my husband had stayed up late correcting, been up several times during the night with a restless daughter, and rose early to get ready for a meeting.  But, I realized that if I didn’t ask God to bless him with an awesome day, I would be putting limits on God.  And so, I offered up my prayer, and asked God to help me pray more boldly all the time.

Now, I’m not seeing grand miracles every day.   But, God did answer my prayer that day.  He blessed my husband’s day at school.  And, he has helped me to trust that he has the best answers to all my prayers.