Expectations

For weeks I have been looking forward to Athletics Day at school. My five and six year olds have been practicing their sack races and egg and spoon races every afternoon. I couldn't wait to see their excited faces bouncing towards me on the day. When we first started sack races the children were apprehensive about the idea with some children even telling me that they wouldn't be doing it (isn't it amazing how fear of failure binds us from such a young age). We had a chat about resilience and giving it a go, and on that first practice every child had a large grin on their face as they bounced towards me in their bright green sacks.
So today was the day I had waited for in expectation for weeks.. and I spent it lying in bed with laryngitis.  I was guttered. They had worked so hard. I had been looking forward to this day and I was confined to bed.
This is often the case for our expectations. Reality is often quite different. Our expectations are often what bring us down. Relationships fracture when expectations aren't meet. We may have worked towards something for a long time to see it fall apart.
I have expectations for my life, plans that I am working towards, but I am very aware that I also need to accept that the reality will look different from my expectations. I need to take steps in faith, but allow God room to move, room to work on my reality.
So no Athletics Day today for me but I am sure the children had a great day and I look forward to hearing all about it next week. Instead I learnt a good lesson on expectations.