Impossible Expectations

 It is a rainy Friday afternoon... reflection always seems to come when chaos is surrounding me and the desire to withdraw from the real world is great. The rain is splashing against the windows, people are excited about the weekend and a girl is humming to herself thinking no one can hear her, but all I can do is think about what I need to do when I get home in order to feel satisfied at the end of the day. I have just received my lab marks and it is an 86.5. However, the midterm mark is right around the corner. Suddenly, I am no longer happy about the lab mark for I see a possible disappointment with my mark for the midterm. Teachers express their expectations to students all the time, but for some it is their husband or wife, it is their boss expecting near perfection ( which is near impossible to achieve on own efforts). Suddenly extremely high expectations are set into place and the overwhelming feeling of possible failure or disappointment looms for hours possibly even for days. Does this sound familiar? The worst part about these expectations is they are not your own but from someone who believes their standards are going to create success and attain satisfaction. Impossible expectations are there to encourage us to reach our potential. They seem unreachable and the truth is they are on one's own effort, but with Jesus they can be reached.


In the past, I have consistently struggled to make everyone else happy. I would put aside my own desires and do whatever I could to please everyone else. I was a people-pleaser. For years, I tried to create this perfect happy world where no one was angry with me and everyone just accepted me. I know this sounds naive, but I honestly thought it was the only way to live.  Eventually through life's struggles a realization came. I cannot make everyone happy all the time. That is not my job. The impossible expectation of trying to please my boss, my parents, my friends, and people I worked with was exhausting.  I realized all I was doing was making myself miserable. I am almost certain that everybody has attempted to please someone else and as consequence, they wound up miserable. It happens everyday in our society. The worst part is that we just accept it.


Lately, whenever I succeed there is a constant reminder of that one failure that occurred during the day, week or month. I have struggled to not let them discourage me. In Psalm 103:13 It says" As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame; He remembers we are dust." This is so amazing to me. Not only does he forgive me for my transgressions, he understands that I am not perfect. He never wanted perfection, all he wants is for his people to trust him and fear him. He wants me to succeed, but he realizes that I will make mistakes. Otherwise there would have been no reason for him to die.


There will always be impossible expectations that will be impossible for us to attain. Hence, the word impossible. However, through Christ nothing is impossible.  He will teach us through our imperfection and celebrate with us when we are victorious. We must look to Jesus when impossible expectations are given, ones that seem too difficult for us in our own efforts. Just remember that with him potential will be reached, and eventually we will reach goals that might have seemed impossible before.
Do not look at every failure and feel ashamed or discouraged. The reality is that the Lord already knew failure was imminent, but he loves us anyways. The only expectation that matters is what Jesus expects, which is simply coming to him with everything and trust that he will give the correction and victory in the midst of a difficult battle.  So as I sit and stare out my window, I begin to see that my failures are washed away due to his loving mercy and tender grace that abounds every day.