Unrealistic Expectations

It’s been said that unrealistic expectations are the seedbed of failure, and the reason is, it’s not what happens to us but what we thought would happen and doesn’t. The degree of distance between them becomes our depth of disappointment, and disappointment is the hardest thing to recover from!

Our expectations in life need to be realistic. President Reagan told this story before leaving office. It’s about the three Musketeers Author Alexandre Dumas.

The novelist and a friend had a heated argument, and one challenged the other to a duel. Both Dumas and his friend were expert marksmen, and they feared that if they proceeded with the duel, both would die. So they decided to draw straws to determine which of them would shoot himself. Dumas picked the short straw. With a sigh, he picked up his pistol, walked into the library, and closed the door, leaving behind him a group of worried friends. After a few moments, the loud report of a pistol shot echoed from the library. His friends immediately charged into the room, and there stood Dumas with the pistol still smoking in his hand. “Amazing thing just happened,” said Dumas. “I missed.” Let’s try to be like Dumas, don’t allow an unrealistic expectation kill you!

We should, by all means, have expectations but let’s make sure they are realistic. But perhaps something more significant than an expectation is to live daily with an expectancy, knowing that each day God will bring surprises and miracles your way!