Copyright © 2026 Women of the ELCA. Reprint permission is granted for use in Women of the ELCA units, clusters/conferences and synodical women’s organizations provided each post is reproduced in its entirety. If you enjoy this resource, Donate Now.
Expectations. Don’t we all have expectations of how our lives will unfold? I expected that my kids would grow up without mishap, fall in love and have happy marriages. I expected 25 years ago that Tim and I were settled and wouldn’t move again. I expected that we would age gracefully into our 90s with few problems. How did my expectations work out? Not so well.
Do you have a list of expectations for your life? Have you also been startled by the unexpected? Addiction among family members? Career disappointments? A lonely old age?
Yet even when are expectations aren’t realized, God is with us. Jesus looked deeply into the eyes of both a hemorrhaging woman and an unbelieving father and loved them, just as he looks deeply into our eyes and loves us so much more than we expected.
We can ask God, “What do you expect of us? God’s answer: “Love me deeply, love your neighbor fully and don’t forget to love yourself.” God’s expectations of us – not our expectations – lead us to live the best lives of all. Lives of love, in which wonders and miracles appear unexpectedly.
This message is excerpted from “Whose expectations?” by Susie Gamelin in the May 2018 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Monica, mother of Augustine, 387.