Expectations

We have been here just 3 weeks. In some ways it seems so much longer. I have settled into a few routines. I get up before the kids, take a shower, get them up, bring them to school. I have found the best route to get there. I get home, take the dog for a walk and then come home and eat something for breakfast which usually, ok always, includes Mt Dew. Then I set about with whatever moves me on my list. Could be errands, unpacking, hanging things on walls, whatever. I have not done what I said I would be doing by now and that's take a book and sit on the beach. Too cold.
The ocean and the beach is my metaphor these days. I go there expecting one thing-sun, fun and warm. If I did not expect that, I would not go there. Sometimes, though, it is cold, windy and cloudy. Do you know I still sit there though? Partly because the kids don't recognize the cold but partly because I feel like it's God's gift to our family. It's precious time we are together and making memories. Any burdens or stress we feel from this move are set aside for awhile while we are there.
I think about Jesus when I think about the ocean and my expectations. When John the Baptist, who was in jail, waiting to get his head cut off, sent his friends to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who we is coming or should we expect someone else?" (Matthew 11:1-7) Jesus replies (and I am paraphrasing) “Look at everything that is happening….Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me.” In the Message it is translated “Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!" Maybe John asked the question because he was expecting something else, a ruler to oust the Romans or at least someone to get him out of jail. But I think he was likely thinking, “I did not expect this!” Maybe he wanted to know “Have I sacrificed my life for the right thing?” Jesus is saying “Yes, it is worth it but I am not what you expected.” He doesn’t say “Sorry, wish I could do more.” He doesn’t need to apologize. He is stating the fact. “I will not fit into your box; I will not meet everyone’s expectations.” And like the ocean He created, He is constant whether the sun is shining or not and whether or not I like the how things are going. Praise the Lord because I confess I am more the one "who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed like the wind." (James 1:6)
Ps 146:5-6
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, -the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — the Lord, who remains faithful forever.
Jer 31:35
This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the Lord Almighty is his name
Blessings,
joy