There’s a scene in the movie “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” that stuck with me. This separated husband and wife, Paul and Meryl Morgan, witnesses a murder and has to go into witness protection. These city dwellers are placed in a remote town with no access to the Internet, phones, and anyone from their former lives, which forces them to confront their relationship.
At one point Meryl says, “But if we are gonna stay together then you know, I guess we have to scale back our expectations, and I won’t expect everything from him, ad he won’t expect everything from me and…”
Clay Wheeler, the marshal in charge of protecting them, says, “You should expect everything from each other!”
It hurts when expectations aren’t met (Read more). That’s okay. It’s okay to hurt. That’s human. Cry it out. Trust God. Move forward.
But don’t lower your expectations.
Because that’s also human, a defense mechanism of sorts. We lower our expectations so we don’t get hurt in the future.
There’s everything right about keeping in mind that we’re all flawed. We all make mistakes. We all fall short. God’s grace is there because we can never meet perfection. In turn, we can and should extend grace to others because people will let us down and we will let others down. Let’s understand that, forgive, and be gracious.
But it’s one thing to extend grace and another to expect less.
Expecting less or lowering expectations creates a life of mediocrity. We’re giving permission for someone not to do their best, and we’re saying, “I’m okay with less than your best” even though we’re not. And if we continue expecting less and lowering our expectations, soon we’ll expect nothing at all and find ourselves living unsatisfied lives.
Because as people, we’re created for more.
That’s why Clay from the movie tells the couple to expect everything from each other. Expecting everything from each other makes us strive to do our best. There will be times when we do just that. We’ll do our best, be the best, and meet all sorts of expectations plus more. There will also be times when we’ll fail and let each other down. But we move on. We forgive. We let life be messy. We extend grace to each other. Then continue all over again.
We are created for more.
On one end of the spectrum, we succumb to greed, envy, and empty pursuits. On the other end is what God created within us. More genuine connection. More love. More of that something that fills the void in our hearts, and if you didn’t know, it’s Jesus.
Pain can make us lower our expectations. We expect less of others, less of ourselves, and even less from God. In our hearts, however, we want more. We want to be loved and to love with all the passion a person can give. We want to be part of something bigger than us. We want every dream to come true. We want the fairy tale. We want to do and be our best and receive someone else’s best. At work. At play. In relationships. In life.
Then expect more. Expect the best out of yourself. Be gracious and forgive. You’ll fall short, but that’s okay. We are our own worst critics, but rise above it. Expect the best out of others. Be gracious and forgive. They will fall short too. People can disappoint you. Be okay with that, remembering that just as you make mistakes, so will they. Extend grace.
Expect the best from God. He will never fall short, but He might tell you no or wait. Those are hard to hear. Remember that He has your best interests, and dreams bigger dreams for you. Expect the best from God because He wants to give it to you.
We are created for more. Don’t expect less. Expect everything and extend grace. (Click to Tweet)
Linking up with Fellowship Fridays.
