What expectation do I need to give up today and perhaps forever? This is the daily service podcast with Anthony Pangilinan. I must have shared this before, Hannah coming to me age eight or nine saying, Dad, I'm going to Singapore with mom soon for the contest. And I was thinking, if I should jump high or low in the balance beam.
Okay, what's the problem? Because if I jump high, Dad, I might slip. And if I slip, I will lose. Okay, so what are you thinking of doing?
I'll just jump low, just low. Okay, and then what will happen? I won't slip. Okay, and then what's the result?
I will lose. Okay, so if you jump high, you might lose, but if you jump low, you'll surely lose. Dad, what do I do? I said, Hannah, that's not going to you.
It's mom, so please decide with mom. I wanted her to decide for herself. And she jumped high and she did not slip, at least this time she didn't. And she won the overall championship as she came back to Manila.
She had to drop the idea of settling, and she had to re-embrace the expectation of winning. What to drop? Here we go. Number one, those that eat you up at the core of your being.
If you're expecting to eventually embrace what you know deep inside, you are fundamentally against, drop that expectation. If you hate injustice, if you're led to fight it, if you can't sleep at night thinking about something you believe you ought to do, but haven't, that will bring justice to a situation or to a person, stop expecting that conviction to go away because it's eating you up at the core of your being. Number two, drop those that no one you respect or look up to or pray to will ever encourage you to hold on to. In a multitude of counselors, the worthy ones, there is wisdom.
Number three, drop those that offer gain at the cost of your own soul. Clearly, deeds of darkness, my friend, expecting and praying that someone you're upset with gets sick, for example. The relationship that could have been yours turns sour. What a sour grape.
Or that someone else's legitimate joys turns into misery. Drop them. Number four, drop those that undermine your joy and even your peace in the moment. If not securing that expectation is stealing your ability to live your life to the fullest now, then I question the value of holding on to it any longer.
Even as Nelson Mandela was deprived of physical freedom in a South African jail, he was a beacon of hope for millions as he continued to fight against discrimination while expecting and longing for better days for his people. I spent over an hour this morning reading through my personal diary when I was 15 years old, decades ago, you know. One of the things that stood out was my dad's support for anything that exposed me to the need for change in this country in terms of economy, in terms of equality, leadership, the value of all kinds of people, the beauty of the countryside regardless of circumstances, and to be content with what I have and don't have. That's a virtue I owe my dad.
Number five, drop that expectation that will glorify and gratify self above all. The world says you have needs, satisfy them. And I quote, you have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs.
Indeed, expand your needs and demand more. This is the worldly doctrine of today, and they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide. For the poor, envy and murder.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, who also said, I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea. Glorifying and gratifying self above all. Drop those expectations that, number six, have dominion over your entire soul. This is total domination.
And that can be any expectation, any desire, any demand that has consumed me, that has controlled my entire being, that has come above everything and everyone else of value to me, including the promise keeper, the resource provider, the expectation granter. In a sense, even as I expect, and I expect not a few things even at this stage in my life, it has helped me to surrender all my expectations, especially those beyond my control, and to entrust them to the one who knows me and what I need better than I do. So what expectations to drop? Those that eat you at your core.
E. Those that no one you respect will support you for. N. Those that offer gain at the cost of your soul.
O. Those that undermine your joy and peace in the moment. U. Those that glorify and gratify self above all.
G. And those that have dominion over your entire soul. Enough of those expectations. Indeed, ultimately, let our expectation come from God alone.
Psalm 62, verse 5-7, My soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved.