So, What’s the Catch?

by | Oct 14, 2011 | Five Minute Friday

Today I join this writing community for Five Minute Friday with the prompt, Catch.  Writing briefly from the overflow of the heart.

Just five minutes of writing.  No editing, no over-thinking, no back tracking.  This challenges me to walk in freedom.  I challenge you to do the same.  Cozy up in your own place and write for just five minutes.  In your journal, on a napkin, at your laptop right in front of you now.  Just. Write

Expectations kill relationships.  A simple phrase from that book of wisdom on counting gifts, it haunts me, stays with me like marshmallows stuck to fingers.  I can’t get it out of mind. The truth found in this phrase so profound.  How the expectations I put on my kids, friendships, my husband, they extinguish the flame that burns love. 

Do I live in expectation or expectancy?  One encumbers, the other frees.

Then I catch what He is saying about this phrase during a phone conversation with my friend as I wait in the pick-up line at school.  She reminds me about what I said that day, how I got nothing accomplished. And she challenges my declaration, asks me about the nothing I did that day. So I give her the list.  The way I tidied the house, ran errands and she laughs, gives me perspective.  Tells me, “this nothing is about not meeting your own expectations.”

Then I get it, like catching leaves falling, twirling down from high overhead, piling right into my hands.  I cup hands to hold this truth, then open arms to catch more.  That the expectations I put on myself kill my spirit, my relationship with Him. 

And it is freeing, the way He helps me see. 

The grace of God to remind me; recall that brief interchange all those years ago so I can catch His grace, receive the truth and be set free.  It is like throwing that big pile of leaves in the air and breathing deep again.

Do you live under the weight of your own expectations or in the joy of expectancy?  Is this concept new to you?  Does it give you pause?  Tell me what you think and leave a comment.

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10 Comments

  1. Veronica

    Expectations do weigh us down, and few if anythings ever live up to our expectations. I meditate often on ways to be open to what is, rather than what I expect. Now I think I’ll need to meditate on expectancy. I’ve never separated it from my expectations before.

    • Redemption's Beauty

      Should give my husband credit, he made me see it that way! I’m right there with you, thinking about the difference. Thanks for visiting Veronica.

  2. Patti

    My expectations of what I perceive others expect of me causes me to lose my joy and sometimes where my focus should be…I try to live looking up but……well you know….thanks for your blog it helps to keep me focused on the only true one that I have to being glory to…

    • Redemption's Beauty

      I hear ya Patti. This is the rub in life isn’t it? Letting go of expectations of others and ourselves to walk in the freedom of His voice. It is a challenge, one worth pursuing. Thanks for sharing your heart here.

  3. Just Beth

    “It is like throwing that big pile of leaves in the air and breathing deep again.” And, that, my friend is the freedom He has always been calling us to. I, too, expect so much of myself. Thank you for this beautiful reminder today to LET GO!

    • Redemption's Beauty

      Glad to know I am in good company Beth. Thanks for visiting. I left a comment over at your place!

  4. Susie

    Your insights are so refreshing to me. I have been pondering your statement from a recent post on hope: “My own expectations shroud the path of divine providence. Leave me empty. ” These insights on expectations versus expectancy kind of complete the concept for me. I want to be empty and open to how God is going to provide rather than praying with expectations on the way I think He should answer my requests…..but I need to be waiting in expectancy and anticipated wonder. Thank you!

    • Redemption's Beauty

      Wow, so awesome to see your thoughts come full circle. Thanks so much for sharing how you processed, got clarity. For me, this waiting in expectancy is a discipline, a way to re-train my thinking. So thrilled you left a comment, what a blessing!

  5. Paula

    “This nothing is about not meeting my own expectations”……………sooo true. I shall attempt to live with expectancy. Once again, enjoying your beautiful thoughts. I need to “catch some leaves and toss them with delight”.

    • Redemption's Beauty

      Paula, been outside today putting down pine needles amongst the leaves thinking about expectancy in the context of what hides underneath the soil in winter and pops back up in the spring. A natural illustration of expectancy!

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