Expectations

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you
and wait expectantly.

Psalm 5:3


This week I had an odd desire for home improvement projects. With two small boys under foot, that limits me quite a bit. So I bought a few artsy pieces to hang on the walls. I also changed the rugs on our living room floor. But it still wasn't change enough to satisfy me. So I decided to rearrange the living room furniture as well. I moved every single piece of furniture in the room. (And I think it looks quite welcoming now.)

Greg came home from work, hugged on the boys, had some dinner, changed his clothes, and checked his email. ALL of these tasks involve either being in the living room or walking through the living room. And my sweet husband was home for over half an hour before he noticed that I had completely changed our living room. He was sitting in our living room oblivious to the changes in his surroundings.

Don't we treat God like this sometimes? We just expect things to always be the same. And we are so busy looking for His answers to our problems, His hand in our lives, His grace in our struggles, that we completely miss out on the blessings He has already given us, blessings that are anything but ordinary. Just like my husband - sitting in the middle of the living room floor, oblivious to the obvious - aren't we often sitting right in the middle of God's grace and love, oblivious to His presence because we are expecting things to be the way they have always been? We ask and seek and pray with the expectation that everything is going to be the "same old, same old."

But what if we prayed with the expectation that God was going to move all of the living room furniture around? What if we stopped going through the motions and took the time to look around us? I'm certain that we would be pleasantly surprised by what we find. Not the mundane but the magnificent. Not the routine but the remarkable. Not the familiar but the fantastic. Not the simple but the splendid. Let's remember to pray expectantly - expecting God to respond creatively, lavishly, extravagantly!