Can we talk about holiday expectations?

The holidays are upon us!  Can you believe it?  And with the holidays come holiday expectations.  Have you entered this season expecting it to look a certain way?  Have you expected your children to come home?  Do you expect your son, daughter, their spouses, your grandchildren, your parents to act a certain way or do certain things?

Expectations are killers.  It's Satan setting us up for failure and death.  He wants to crush our hopes, our vision, and bring death to relationships.  That's what expectations do...they strangle those in whom you place your expectations.

Bring your expectations to the altar.  Offer Him thanks for what you have....whether it's all of your family coming together or no one coming home.  If it's not what you'd hoped, you can offer him a sacrifice of praise.  You may never have another opportunity to praise Him in this way again.  Thank Him for health.  Thank Him for those children and grandchildren.  Thank Him that your parents are still living.  Thank Him for food, for clothes, for a warm house.  Thank Him that He's in control...and you're not.  Thank Him that He's promised to never leave you nor forsake you.  Praise Him for being the King of kings and yet caring about every detail of your life.

As you thank and praise Him, you'll find those expectations falling off.  And you won't have to expect anything from anyone other than Him.  We can say with the Psalmist that our hope and expectation are in the Lord!