Expectations

SOMETIMES we have high expectations for our marriage, job, children, or friends that land us in deep disappointment. People or opportunities don't always measure up to our hopes. Is there a cure for this kind of disillusionment? Yes! It comes not from lowering our expectations but from re aligning them.

The teachings of Christian Science, in accord with the Bible, help us to look to God, to divine Spirit, for peace and happiness. They strongly remind us that Deity is the giver of all good.

Is it possible that we haven't expected enough from our Father-Mother God? Deity is boundless Love, always present. He is all-knowing, all-seeing Mind. God gives us holy thoughts. He gives us joy, love, strength, spiritual intuition, and intelligence--all that we need for the meeting of our needs.

These God-given qualities may seem very far from us if we're struggling with some disappointing circumstance. Even so, God's help is at hand. ``My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him,'' sang the Psalmist. ``He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.''1

What keeps us from turning to God as the source of all good? Sometimes it's willfulness--a personal desire for good to flow from one particular direction. But isn't that limiting? Our Father-Mother has ways of blessing us that we haven't even considered. Shouldn't we yield our will to God's, knowing that divine Love has only good in store for us?

Sometimes it's ignorance or fear that keeps us from turning to God with expectant hearts. If we feel we don't know our creator very well (or are put off by what we think we know), we can turn to the Scriptures to deepen our understanding. A prayerful reading of the Gospels alone reveals a strong sense of God as divine Truth and Love. We see in the lives of Christ Jesus and his disciples the marvelous results of depending on God to care for needs.

When disappointment is at its worst, we may be tempted to think that God has forsaken us. But isn't it, rather, that we've been looking for joy or success in the wrong direction? Maybe we've been pinning our hopes on human personalities or circumstances rather than on divine Love. If we're willing to shift our faith and expectations to the realm of Spirit, we'll discover the spiritual blessings that God provides.

It's through prayer that we discern God's great love for us and feel His gentle presence. Silencing willfulness, fear, and discouragement, we can commune with our heavenly Father as a dear friend. We open our thought to spiritual blessings by turning to God humbly, even gratefully. Our pure desire to know Deity as the source of all good is rewarded as we strive to live our prayer--to live in right eousness. Sin tends to cut us off from discerning God's care and experiencing it. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, ``Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff,--a broken reed, which pierces the heart.'' A few lines later she adds, ``Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.''2

We can always learn from disappointments, because they force us to shift our expectations. They nudge us to higher, holier ground where we learn to rely on God as our provider and guide. We discover, then, the truth of the Bible promise ``The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.''3

1Psalms 62:5, 6. 2Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 66. 3 Psalms 34:22. You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life...Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalms 42: 8,11