Flexpectations: Managing Expectations

School’s out. The weather’s warm. The long days of summer commence, and so do our high hopes for this time of year. Summertime expectations remind me of laundry. They pile up, and there’s lots of water play involved. We all look forward to loads of fun in the summer.

Summer was ending when I first moved to Kansas. I bought a sign from Hobby Lobby that reads, “Laundry Room; Loads & loads of fun.” I hung it in our new home next to four matching frames of my kids and silly laundry pictures, including one with a two-year-old who pulled a clean pair of panties over her head like a face mask. The sign provided the perfect finishing touch; my laundry room looked sweet and complete. However, I did not look as complete to God as my laundry room looked to me. So He began to wash the dirty load in my heart.

That night while my husband, Bill, and I watched T.V., Bill said, “Your washer has been filling a long time. Do you think everything’s OK out there?” So I got up to check.
 Bill’s superpowers include being a super handyman. He hears the odd noises I often tune out. He was right! my machine was filling and hadn’t stopped because the drain hose had come off. Water from the washer flooded into my kitchen. Yup, we had “loads of fun” mopping that night. We laughed at the irony of the timing coinciding with the hanging of my new home décor. We resumed our relaxing evening, assuming we were finished with clean-up.

The next day I went to get something out of the basement only to find more of a mess than I expected. More water had come through the heating duct. The duct sprayed water like a showerhead. Boxes on the shelves were as wet as those on the floor. We had to haul out wet boxes and repack a number of them. I was not laughing. My grins and giggles from the night before turned into moans and groans. Two days into the clean-up, I was downright discouraged. I had empty boxes drying and the things that belonged in them waiting to get packed up again. It felt like I’d never get settled into the house, but I did.

Summertime, like laundry, doesn’t always match our expectations. Sometimes it’s better than we hoped it would be. Surprises come our way: discounts on vacations, friends and family coming for unexpected visits. Other times our plans fail to turn out as we thought: someone gets sick on vacation, or the weather rains on our parade, picnic, or hike; in Kansas, spring and summer bring tornado warnings. God sends trial because He sees our need to grow in patience (James 1:2 – 4).

We often experience a gap between what we want and what is. Patience serves as the foundation for flexpectations. We must learn to bend so we don’t break. As God’s children, our pain is never in vain. His purpose is to perfect us.

So don’t be surprised if God sends you to summer school. Hold your expectations of summer—and all things—loosely. Expect God to exercise His sovereignty in your life and complete the good work He began in you (Philippians 1:6). The Lord will always exceed our expectations. God does exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Trials are God’s laundry room to clean us up and prepare us for eternity.

Bill bought a t-shirt the year we moved to Kansas. Printed on the front is this saying, “Kansas: exceeding your already low expectations.”  That’s been an accurate assessment of this hidden treasure in the Heartland of the U.S. I think it also applies to the Kingdom of Heaven. I’m sure our finite minds can’t know how wonderful it will be. We can only imagine. But unlike imagining how wonderful our summers will be, heaven will not disappoint! In heaven, we will have “loads & loads of fun!”

Let’s manage our expectations this summer and make room for what God will do.

“Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” James 4:14 – 15.

Let’s greet the summer with flexpectations.