expectations

Several years ago while preparing to train a team of adolescents to serve on a mission trip with Christian Educators Outreach in Hungary, a friend told me about two ‘rules’ she had learned in training to serve in Africa. The first rule I boiled down (because I try to boil everything down to the simplest term possible and then expand when necessary) to this: No Expectations. This has become known in my circles (often in a derogatory sense) as rule 1. One young man said that it doesn’t apply to God. Maybe. I say maybe because we can and should biblically expect much from God. Scripture is packed with His promises. These we can expect. But rule 1 is not really about God. Its about humans, and culture, and the things in this life where other people make decisions and do things which are up to them. So, the point of rule 1 among us humans is this: I should not expect you to do what I want. Further, when I am traveling abroad on mission in cultures different than my own, I should not expect things like food that’s tastes the way I like it or comes in quantities that I get in America. It means I should not expect ice or free refills or hot showers or even a toilet seat. When I am abroad, I should go with an open mind.
Indeed I would suggest that if I travel my path with limited expectations, I can more easily cultivate a heart of gratitude rather than one of grumbling. to approach life with lowered expectations on my fellow humans will afford me the pleasure of more pleasant surprises for which I may be thankful, rather than the whining that I (we) are so often prone to feel and then demonstrate through griping.
This does not mean we don’t stop having any expectations on people totally, it just means that when I’m in someone else’s context, I adapt to their culture in areas of what I want.