I admit it. I made false assumptions.
For some reason, as I took my Hyundai i10 to the streets of Cairo, I assumed a few things. For instance, I assumed lane lines meant something; that one-way streets were intended to be, well, one-way. I didn't know round-abouts were multi-directional or that backing up on a major freeway is not only not a problem, but an appropriate way of back-tracking. I suppose I missed the memo that the highway doubles up as a cross-walk and the sidewalk doubles up as a highway. Forgot that donkey carts are equally four-cylinder vehicles of transportation. It was convenient to discover you can stop in the middle of a busy street to congratulate your neighbor on his purchase of a new television while an orchestra of honking horns serenade the conversation. Perhaps even more beautiful was the realization that stop-lights have no significance and the concept of right-of-way is subjective. Indeed, I was mistaken.
Ah, expectations! The expectations of others; our expectations of others; our expectations of ourselves. Disappointment. Apprehension. Worry. Dissatisfaction. Fear. All products from the same source.
We base success, contentment, and happiness on the outcome of assumptions, competition, relationships, and results. We spend our days attempting to live up to what other people expect our lives to produce, rather than pursuing the God-given purpose for which we were created. We allow the world to define "success" and "failure." The very foundations of our lives are built on particular expectations, and when we fail to achieve them, we become depressed, discouraged, or frustrated.
Jesus conveyed this thought in a beautiful parable. (A parable is a simple story illustrating a deeper meaning.) He told of two men. One built his house on the rock; the other, on the sand. In both cases, the storms came and torrentially beat on the houses. The house on the rock held its ground while the house on the sand buckled and collapsed under the force of the storm.(Matthew 7:24-27) The point of the parable is NOT about building in a storm-free environment. We all go through the storms of life. Regardless of our faith, culture, ethnicity, or nationality we go through disease, disaster, pain, separation, heartache, disappointment, and ultimately, death. The real question lies in this: "What is your foundation?" When the storms of life hit, is your foundation intact?
Janet Paschal, songwriter/singer penned these lyrics, "For every beginning, something is ending. Everything changes but change. Funny how life is, forever amending, the plans that we all prearranged. So laugh when you can, cry when you must, I pray you'll always live deep. Never forget, sometimes you just drink from the bitter to savor the sweet."
Life isn't stable. It wasn't meant to be. Change is constant. Are you building your life on a solid foundation? If you build your life on expectations, disappointment is guaranteed. People will fail you, bank accounts will collapse, bodies will grow old, questions will go unanswered.
There is one foundation I trust. Jesus shared with His disciples, "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd...My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish...I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, he shall live." (John 10:10-11, 27-28; 11:25) God wants us to have not only life, but abundant life AND eternal life with Him. The problem is that all too often we choose the “broken cisterns” (Jeremiah 2:13) of the world while ignoring our very raison d'être. We seek things which simply do not last and pursue temporal pleasures.
It is this tragedy that spurred C.S. Lewis to declare, “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (Read that quote again)
So I ask, WHEN the expectations of your world crumble, will your foundation be secure?
In Cairo traffic, I’ve learned to go with the flow. But when it comes to the world’s expectations, I’m determined to go against the flow.
We base success, contentment, and happiness on the outcome of assumptions, competition, relationships, and results. We spend our days attempting to live up to what other people expect our lives to produce, rather than pursuing the God-given purpose for which we were created. We allow the world to define "success" and "failure." The very foundations of our lives are built on particular expectations, and when we fail to achieve them, we become depressed, discouraged, or frustrated.
Jesus conveyed this thought in a beautiful parable. (A parable is a simple story illustrating a deeper meaning.) He told of two men. One built his house on the rock; the other, on the sand. In both cases, the storms came and torrentially beat on the houses. The house on the rock held its ground while the house on the sand buckled and collapsed under the force of the storm.(Matthew 7:24-27) The point of the parable is NOT about building in a storm-free environment. We all go through the storms of life. Regardless of our faith, culture, ethnicity, or nationality we go through disease, disaster, pain, separation, heartache, disappointment, and ultimately, death. The real question lies in this: "What is your foundation?" When the storms of life hit, is your foundation intact?
Janet Paschal, songwriter/singer penned these lyrics, "For every beginning, something is ending. Everything changes but change. Funny how life is, forever amending, the plans that we all prearranged. So laugh when you can, cry when you must, I pray you'll always live deep. Never forget, sometimes you just drink from the bitter to savor the sweet."
There is one foundation I trust. Jesus shared with His disciples, "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd...My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish...I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, he shall live." (John 10:10-11, 27-28; 11:25) God wants us to have not only life, but abundant life AND eternal life with Him. The problem is that all too often we choose the “broken cisterns” (Jeremiah 2:13) of the world while ignoring our very raison d'être. We seek things which simply do not last and pursue temporal pleasures.
It is this tragedy that spurred C.S. Lewis to declare, “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (Read that quote again)
So I ask, WHEN the expectations of your world crumble, will your foundation be secure?
In Cairo traffic, I’ve learned to go with the flow. But when it comes to the world’s expectations, I’m determined to go against the flow.
This brought back so many memories of riding in Cairo traffic, most of which include me closing my eyes because I was sure that, at any given moment, I was about to meet my Maker.
ReplyDeleteI love the Paschal quote.