Expectancy and Expectations

There is an ocean of difference between expectations and expectancy. 

Expectations indicate a sense of what should be. It is how we expect things to go, often veering into entitlement. If circumstances don’t go the way we want, we feel cheated, irritated, or even offended. It’s not fair. Change—especially change we didn’t ask for—is viewed as an interruption to our plans. Many of us have carried unmet expectations for years that we need to let go of. Doing so will release these toxic emotions over something we never should have counted on to begin with. 

Staying expectant is the opposite. It reflects anticipation for what’s to come. It is being open to what does happen regardless of what you think should happen. Life is not meant to be something we control but something we experience. 

There will be times when things go from bad to worse. In those moments, the pull to fear or worry is hard to overcome. It almost feels right to express those emotions. 

Yet when we look to God rather than our own strength or understanding, we experience something different: expectancy.

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