Great Expectation

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance.

1 Peter 1:3-4

I grew up in a small southern town in South Carolina. I was a daddy’s girl through and through and always wanted to dress like a princess. I imagined my grown-up family life being even better than my own childhood, which had very few sad memories.

Unrealistic expectations are not good.

Many days in the throes of being a new bride and later a new teacher and then a new mother with new responsibilities, I wondered, Where’s the sweet happily ever after this side of heaven? And where’s my tiara?

Growing up, I thought that real life would begin when my knight in shining armor not only found me and crowned me, but fought bravely for me, whisked me down the church aisle, and showered me with undying love and affection for the rest of my life! Our many children, dressed alike, flocking around our feet, and enjoying us at every stage of life, would just be icing on the cake. If I tried hard to do all the right things, life would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? If only real life were picture perfect, like Cinderella’s story was in the end!

Truth be told, I would not trade one of my unrealistic expectations now because God used them to show me, when I became a new person in Christ, that I could live happily ever after with one great expectation . . . knowing Jesus Christ better each day!

We can anticipate, dream of, long for, build up our hopes about heaven with Him all we want and still rest assured that our expectations will be met. Life forever with Him will be grander than our wildest dreams or greatest expectations.

What is one great expectation you grew up with? What is one you have as an adult? Has either one been met? Live with one great expectation! Thank Jesus now that He will never fail to measure up to your dreams—and in fact, He’ll far exceed them.