We live in a state of chronic frustration because the significant others in our lives don't measure up. Or can't measure up.
Author James Dobson points out that while the baby is on the way,we profess only to want a child who is normal. But from birth on,we want a superkid! We want for him either the life we didn't have or a replay of the life we did have. Somehow, his grades, his friends, his style is never good enough. We focus on what he needs to improve, seldom on what he has achieved.
So our children are quickly caught up with us in the whirlpool of more.
Marriages become battlefields because our partners continually disappoint us. Weaknesses are magnified; strengths are forgotten--just the reverse of the courtship process. We are expecting more of Prince Charming or Cinderella, and they may be getting tired of never being enough.
These people expectations can make a person incurably restless with his work. No working conditions, no boss is what you really want. And the dissatisfaction syndrome can reach right into the church too. There is ultimately something wrong with every pastor, every leader. We end up expecting people around us a perfection that belongs only to God.
If you are not satisfied wuth those around you, you probably even less satisfied with yourself. We compare ourselves to standards of parenting, partnering, or producing that are unattainable, and can never relax because we are never good enough.
If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate.
(Taken from Our Daily Bread)
1 comment:
My old mentor, the Rev Dr John Tay, used to tell me the best way never to be disappointed is not to expect too much of others, because that way, whatever they offer us will be a BONUS! Happily married for more than 40 years with 2 children and maybe 5 or 6 grandchildren, I think he has a point!
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