Our lives are filled with Great Expectations. Some of these expectations are fulfilled, and some leave us a little disappointed. I had great expectations that my Mr. Coffee would last longer than six months. I was disappointed. Now I use this camp coffee pot and it fulfills my great expectations of a great cup of coffee in the morning. Never mind that it takes much longer than Mr. Coffee. At least I know it will always work and my expectations of a great cup of coffee won’t be a great disappointment.
Many us have experienced great expectations in our lives that were fulfilled over and above what we thought, and many have been great disappointments. We had great expectations when we graduated from high school, only to find that high school just wasn’t enough. Then some of us went to college and found that it was tough to find a job with the degree we studied for.
Then there are some who are fulfilling exactly what they expected and are living the life they dreamed of. Still, those people often experience disappointments in their expectations as well.
When I was young, I wanted to be a writer. In my mind a writer was one who wrote books that got published. It didn’t occur to me that writers can write and never be published. As I grew older and more experienced, I realized a writer is just that: one who writes. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a writer is published.
As I have often said in the past (and will continue to say) a writer writes to be read; and today I’d like to add, from my experience, that a read writer is a writer whose great expectations are fulfilled. It doesn’t really matter that what I have written isn’t published in the traditional sense of the word. People are reading my writing even if I am the one who hands them my writing. I am finding my great expectations are being fulfilled.
And I want to thank the Lord for bringing me to a place where my great expectations are being fulfilled, even though I’m using a camp coffee pot rather than a Mr. Coffee to see those expectations fulfilled.
Those who have read my writing before know that I have heard the voice of the Lord many times in my life. I won’t deny it, the Holy Spirit guides me just as the Lord promised in Isaiah 30:21.
Recently I heard the voice of the Lord speak to me about a project I am working on. I am converting this story into a screenplay for practice. He’s also given me further instructions on what to do after I’ve finished the conversion, which is to send it out. It’s taking a long time, but I am doing it “the hard way” on purpose so that I can learn how to do this.
When I heard him tell me he wants me to send it out, the first thing I thought was “Wow, how many thousands of scripts are there written by professional scriptwriters and that are rejected?”
But instead of the usual arguments I gave the Lord, I said, “Okay. If this is what you want, I’ll do it.”
But with this “yes” to the Lord, I also realize he’s not telling me that my script will be accepted. No, he’s not saying that at all. To my mind, this is practice in obedience to his direction, even when I can’t see what the end might be. It’s calling me to release my great expectations, do as he tells me and let him do what he wants to do with it… even if nothing ever comes of it.
And that’s the thing about our great expectations. We need to surrender all to the Lord. Our hopes, our dreams, our expectations, and give him everything we have, everything we are. We are to let these things that are so dear to us die, and watch and see how the Lord will resurrect them, just as all our hopes and dreams were resurrected when Jesus rose from the dead to give us new and abundant life.
When we do this we will hear a voice behind us telling us whether we ought to turn to the right or to the left. He will use what we have given him and we will see our greatest expectations fulfilled more than we could ever have imagined.
Many us have experienced great expectations in our lives that were fulfilled over and above what we thought, and many have been great disappointments. We had great expectations when we graduated from high school, only to find that high school just wasn’t enough. Then some of us went to college and found that it was tough to find a job with the degree we studied for.
Then there are some who are fulfilling exactly what they expected and are living the life they dreamed of. Still, those people often experience disappointments in their expectations as well.
When I was young, I wanted to be a writer. In my mind a writer was one who wrote books that got published. It didn’t occur to me that writers can write and never be published. As I grew older and more experienced, I realized a writer is just that: one who writes. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a writer is published.
As I have often said in the past (and will continue to say) a writer writes to be read; and today I’d like to add, from my experience, that a read writer is a writer whose great expectations are fulfilled. It doesn’t really matter that what I have written isn’t published in the traditional sense of the word. People are reading my writing even if I am the one who hands them my writing. I am finding my great expectations are being fulfilled.
And I want to thank the Lord for bringing me to a place where my great expectations are being fulfilled, even though I’m using a camp coffee pot rather than a Mr. Coffee to see those expectations fulfilled.
Those who have read my writing before know that I have heard the voice of the Lord many times in my life. I won’t deny it, the Holy Spirit guides me just as the Lord promised in Isaiah 30:21.
Recently I heard the voice of the Lord speak to me about a project I am working on. I am converting this story into a screenplay for practice. He’s also given me further instructions on what to do after I’ve finished the conversion, which is to send it out. It’s taking a long time, but I am doing it “the hard way” on purpose so that I can learn how to do this.
When I heard him tell me he wants me to send it out, the first thing I thought was “Wow, how many thousands of scripts are there written by professional scriptwriters and that are rejected?”
But instead of the usual arguments I gave the Lord, I said, “Okay. If this is what you want, I’ll do it.”
But with this “yes” to the Lord, I also realize he’s not telling me that my script will be accepted. No, he’s not saying that at all. To my mind, this is practice in obedience to his direction, even when I can’t see what the end might be. It’s calling me to release my great expectations, do as he tells me and let him do what he wants to do with it… even if nothing ever comes of it.
And that’s the thing about our great expectations. We need to surrender all to the Lord. Our hopes, our dreams, our expectations, and give him everything we have, everything we are. We are to let these things that are so dear to us die, and watch and see how the Lord will resurrect them, just as all our hopes and dreams were resurrected when Jesus rose from the dead to give us new and abundant life.
When we do this we will hear a voice behind us telling us whether we ought to turn to the right or to the left. He will use what we have given him and we will see our greatest expectations fulfilled more than we could ever have imagined.
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