Think On The Good!

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope that you had a great weekend and are gearing up for a week filled with great expectations of good things happening for you.  As I was contemplating the events of this last weekend, I saw an opportunity for me to stray from our discussion on foundations for a little bit and share some thoughts about how we view the experiences we have in life. 

My wife and I had an extremely busy weekend.  We were up early on Saturday, moved furniture with a friend, went to our church to decorate the children’s room for the Christmas season and then returned home to work on the Children’s Church lesson for Sunday.  Sunday started like the previous day as I was up early and immediately went to the study to complete the lesson for the kids at church.  While this class is usually the highlight of the day, yesterday’s class was punctuated with students who were exceptionally rambunctious and active.  By the time church was over I was ready for lunch, to watch a little football and then take a nap!  Well lunch was good, but the 49ers lost, and the nap did little to rejuvenate me…  and so went my weekend or so I thought! 

As I raked leaves earlier this morning and reviewed the weekend’s activities, I was also reminded of some really special things that happened to us over the last two days.  The more I thought on the good things, the more they overshadowed the negative.  On Saturday my friend who helped us move furniture also presented us with a gift of a Christmas tree for our home.  While moving furniture I received a text from our older daughter, who recently moved to North Carolina, expressing her joy over their first snow fall at their new home.  Later in the day my wife and I were able to participate in their excitement through a 1 minute video that our son in law took of the event and downloaded to their facebook page.  What fun to see their glee!  The last time our daughter saw snow at home here in northern California was when she was probably around four years old.  We laughed so hard with them on the video that tears almost started flowing!  Then on Sunday evening my wife and I sat on the couch with the dog snuggled between us (ah… the perfect family portrait!) and watched a wonderful Christmas movie on the GMC channel that energized us with the Holiday spirit and challenged us to remember the real meaning of the season!

You know what?  This last weekend was really pretty nice for us after all.  I choose to concentrate on the good things that happened to us and am thankful that we were able to experience them in our lives.  These great memories tend to leave a warm place in your heart and also help you to look forward to the new ones that you’ll create each new day.  There is a scripture that says that God’s unfailing love is new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23).  Wow!  We get a new, fresh portion of love each and everyday!  Think about that for a moment.  Each day can have its own special experiences, and each day can be better than the one before!  So, concentrate on the good things that have happened to you in the past and then expect even better things to happen in your future.  Stayed tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting, today!”

What Are My Foundations?

Okay… so it’s another dreary weather day in northern California, which just means that I have to look at what’s inside for my personal production of sunshine!  This is where the foundations  that I mentioned in the last few posts comes into play.  These foundations have a direct correlation to your personal expectations each day.  When I was attending Bible school a few years back, I had to prepare and then give a sermon for my Pastor’s Lab class.  Since I attended Bible school after many years in active ministry I was not a novice at this task yet, I was still a little nervous and wanted to do a good job.  So I endeavored to not leave any stone unturned as I prepared for the assignment.  It turns out that I was led to preach on expectations and faith as outlined in the book of Hebrews chapter eleven verse one.  In one Bible translation the beginning of this verse states that “Faith assures us of the things that we expect…” (God’s Word©)  Since most other translations interpret the word expect  as hope.  I was intrigued to find out the correct usage of the word.  It turns out that expect  is the better translation.  This finding put a whole new twist on my understanding of the verse as well as of receiving things in faith in general.  So what was so new about this revelation?  According to Mr. Webster, if you are basing what you are believing for on hope, you are standing on pretty flimsy ground. He defines the difference between hope and expectation in the following words: “Expectation differs from hope. Hope originates in desire, and may exist with little or no ground of belief that the desired event will arrive. Expectation is founded on some reasons which render the event probable.” (Webster 1828 dictionary)  

Well, you’ll be happy to know that the sermon that I entitled “What Are You Expecting?”  was well received by my classmates (and more importantly by the instructor!), and it acted as a catalyst to have me look at everyday of my life in a brand new way.  The question of what am I expecting and why  began to preface every situation that I faced.  I needed a foundation that was consistent, unshakable and true.  As I mentioned yesterday, I found it in the word of God.  (if you’re interested look in the Bible at John 17:17, Psalm 119:160, Psalm 27:5 and Matthew 7:24 – for starters!)

As you begin to settled into the events and groove of the weekend, take a little time and begin to think about what you have been basing the results of your expectations on.  Is your foundation like shifting sand or as solid as a rock?  You might be surprised at what you discover.  We’ll talk more about this next week.  Have a great weekend!  ...Stay tuned and keep asking yourself: “What Am I Expecting… Today!”

Making The Decision For Change

Let’s begin this adventure into a new place of positive expectations by looking at a personal example of how my day began today.  My wife has been dealing with a medical  

condition for a little while and last night was kind of rough on the two of us.  When I awoke this morning I was tired and still dealing with some of the emotions from the events of the previous evening.  When I looked out the window it was cold, dark and threatening to rain.  It was one of the relatively few times that the weather here in northern California was not cooperating with my need to get off of the emotional roller coaster I was riding.  I was therefore faced with a decision that could affect the outcome of my entire day.   I could grumble and feel sorry for myself and be of absolutely no encouragement to my wife or any of the other people I would see throughout the day or choose to change the way I was feeling in order to foster a more positive outlook for the day.  My decision was to make a change.  This is a key to the whole process of having negative or positive expectations in life.  Instead of allowing an event to direct the path of my day, I chose to take the wheel and steer my entrance into the day in the direction I wanted it to take.   At that point I knew that I was going to have a good day.  My decision was made and I was not going back!   I marched myself downstairs, brewed a steaming hot cup of coffee and went into the study to build myself up with something that would allow me to move away from the difficulties of the previous night and boost me up with great expectations of good things for the day ahead.  The source of that encouragement can vary for different folks.  For me as a Christian and a Pastor it is the word of God as written in the Bible.  It is this word that gives me the foundation for my daily expectations.  With my cup of java, my Bible, notebook and trusty computer Bible study program (I like the free online program e-Sword found at http://www.e-sword.net) I jumped in and allowed the transformation in me to take place.  After a little while I found myself gazing out one of the windows in the study enjoying the fall colors, the towering redwoods, and the shapes of the leave-less trees, totally oblivious to the threatening weather.  Nothing was going to get me down because I had come to the place where I was fully expectant of good things to happen this day. 

…and you know what?  As I write this post it is now late in the afternoon, it is just beginning to rain and it has been a great day!  How did your day go?  Did you have an opportunity to make a change in it’s outcome?  Think about how you can make your tomorrow into a good day.  In the coming days and weeks we’ll dig a little deeper into foundations and change.  Stay tuned and ask yourself daily: “What Am I Expecting… today?”

Good Expectations...

What Are You Expecting…  an interesting name for a blog.  But you know what?  If you’re really honest with yourself, you’ll have to admit that most of us already have a preconceived idea of how the various situations in our lives are going to turn out.  Most of these preconceived ideas – or EXPECTATIONS – are based on our upbringing, our belief system and/or our personal experiences in life.  Within the posts of this blog, I therefore will endeavor to stimulate within you, the possibility of a new set of expectations for your daily lives.  A new foundation that can give you the possibility of expecting good things to happen to you regardless of the weather, the economy, your particular financial or social status, or even contrary to the way you may feel at any given time!  Does this sound impossible, far fetched or maybe a little like the old Disney film Pollyanna?  Well… I challenge you to stay with me, stayed tuned and begin to ask yourself daily: “What Am I Expecting… today?”