GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Are you feeling down because of unfulfilled hopes and dreams?

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” - Proverbs 13:12. 

Are you feeling down because of unfulfilled hopes and dreams?

William Shakespeare wrote, “Expectation is the root of all heartache.”

That has been true in my life. For 16 years, I applied to and was rejected by every newspaper that posted for an editorial cartoonist. My disappointment was fueled by my great expectations.

Dr. Steve Maraboll said, “Expectation is an unhealthy attachment to people, things and outcomes we wish we could control, but don’t.” Unmet expectations in marriage can cause frustration, fuel anger, kill love and ruin relationships. Unmet expectations in our job can cause bitterness, depression which can affect our performance and ruin our future opportunities.

Here’s a little fact that I learned: I'm not in control – God is. Therefore, I placed my hope in God’s will. My prayer was like Jesus’ prayer, “not my will but Your will be done.” After I realized that truth, the rejection letters were easier to accept because I believed that those jobs, those cities and states were not where God wanted me.

Then in 1994, I was hired by The Indianapolis Star as their editorial cartoonist. I was pleasantly surprised because I didn’t expected it. But it was God’s will for me.

And I knew from my first day on that job that there would be a last day. Sure enough, 24 years later, I took the buyout offered by my newspaper and have been on a new journey ever since January 2, 2019.

I have learned that the secret to contentment is believing and trusting in God to give me what I need and not what I expect. The Apostle Paul said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13).

Are you depressed because of unhealthy expectations? If so, you should kill them before they kill you. Then put your trust in God’s will and not your own. Expect nothing, be thankful and pray for everything. Take it from me, you’ll be a lot happier.

ARCHIVE 2019: Speaking of expectations; remember when Americans were told for 4 years that President Trump colluded with the Russians and then we spent millions and millions of dollars investigating it only to discover it was all a lie bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign? The result of crying wolf year after year: disbelief. Trump called it “fake news.”

A survey by Gallup and Knight Foundation shows that “Trust in media is so low that half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them.” And according to a Pew Research Center, “Only two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right.”

Personally, I have no expectations in the government doing the right things to make America great again. Ronald Reagan was right, “Government isn’t the solution to our problems. Government is the problem.”