What are the benefits of the expectant life? You get what you expect in life. Expect great things in life. Live your best life.
Lila Gifty Akita. What are the benefits of the expectant life? Number one, an anchored life. A, you know what you have and you know what you yearn for.
You know what you possess and what you still desire. You have a clear understanding of what is within your control and what you will have to expect from others. You have clear boundaries of the here and now and what is yet being hoped for in the future. Number two, mastery.
The benefit of a life of expectation. You can't help but get better and better as you see more and more room for growth, for learning, for opportunity. Number three, active faith. Not dead faith, not dormant faith, not faith in faith, but the object behind the faith that can meet what is expected and much, much more.
Number four, zest for life. The sense of expectation, of not settling, of constant hope in an increasingly dark, cynical, and doubting world. Number five, intimacy with a human community. See, when I live a life of expectation, I do not live a life on my own.
I engage, I negotiate, I expect, I give, I receive from people above, across, and below. A life of expectation leads to intimacy with fellow human beings like you, like me. Number six, no-nonsense results. Maricel and I still have this book, and I'm sure you've heard about this, What to Expect While You Are Expecting.
It was a major source of learning, of preparation, destressing techniques, what else? Cost-saving measures as Maricel was expecting. Coupled with our actual birthing classes, it brought more depth, more breadth, and meaning to our expecting. Of course, ultimately, it didn't end with simply expecting.
It climaxed with actual deliveries. Expectations impact results. And oh, by the way, a quick detour here. It's not just all expectation on our part, that is also a good deal of elimination if we are truly serious about the expectation.
For Maricel, for example, you know this about pregnancies, certain habits had to go. An obvious change in the menu, a shift in sleeping schedules. What should you eliminate today for better expected results tomorrow? Number seven, a God-honoring life.
Not only does a life of expectation call the ingredient of faith, point to the ultimate provider, it also reminds us that even as we maximize our life here on earth, the experience and practice of a life of expectation points us to the best gift yet to those who believe, eternal life, where all expectations and more are actually satisfied and fully met. C.S. Lewis, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. Did you get the acronym today?
A, benefits of the expected life, an anchored life. One, number two, mastery. Number three, active faith, AMA. Z, zest for life.
I, intimacy with a human community. N, no-nonsense results. And G, a God-honoring life. Amazing.
I'm expecting moments of joy and happiness in the here and now, even as I wrap this up, as my sister and brother-in-law are coming for dinner, and we are preparing, and we will have a good time. One last quote from Lubta Setanova. My expectations for the future, a beautiful past. It's a Friday.
Time for some reflection, three questions. Number one, what expectations should I continue to hold on to? Number two, what expectations should I now embrace at this stage in my life? And number three, what expectations should I let go of or at least less tightly hold on to as I also live in this magical moment in the glorious here and now?
Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Expect it.