by Brandon Jubar

As I'm sitting here writing this, I can hear the ran falling on the roof outside. Or more precisely, I can hear the SLUSH falling. Yup. That's right. It's "slushing" out there. :-\

From my spot here at my desk, all I can see are the gray walls of my cubicle, which may or may not be a good thing. Standing up, I see the same gray as my walls -- only it's the sky outside. What a dreary, miserable day.

I suppose I should expect this type of weather. After all, it IS April in Michigan, right? But you see, I had very different expectations. There seemed to be so many wonderful things on the horizon of my life, I began to think that mother nature would mirror my sunny outlook! Dreary is bad enough. Dreary when you planned on clear skies, however, is absolutely disheartening.

Do you ever feel down because the outcome of something just wasn't what you had anticipated? For me, it doesn't necessarily matter whether or not my expectations were realistic in the first place. What matters is that I created a desired outcome in my mind -- and it didn't turn out the way I wanted.

I've come to believe that setting expectations is an art form. The trick is to set your sights high enough to be challenging, but not so high that you're sure to fail. When you set ridiculous goals, don't expect reality to play along.

The same holds true for prayer. Asking for God to intervene in our lives is fine -- that's one of the main reasons we pray -- but let's temper our petitions with reality (and humility). The Lord can, and does, work miracles, but we can't expect Him to do so all the time. God is not a genie in a bottle. It's wrong to expect that if we pray hard enough He'll grant our every wish.

And when it comes to things over which we have no control -- like the weather -- it's probably best to treat our expectations lightly. Either that or find a good meteorologist -- and pack an umbrella and warmer clothes, just in case.

Peace,
~Brandon

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bjubar@ParishWebmaster.com

Copyright 2002 by Brandon Jubar
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