I’m not sure where I ever heard this question. However, I like it. I like it a lot!
How can I exceed your expectations?
I grew up in Southeast Dallas in the old Pleasant Grove area. This was middle-class America. A lot of good people lived in that community. They worked hard and drove home to a white farm house or a small brick home. My mother shopped each Thursday afternoon at the Safeway on Buckner Blvd. On Sundays, most people who I knew went to church and then rooted for the Cowboys. Life seemed fairly simple.
I went to work early. I had a paper route with the Dallas Morning News for a number of years. Then I worked at a fast food restaurant. Most of my friends had jobs like that. We worked. We played sports. We rooted for our team.
The expectations that I had as a kid were not particularly high. I don’t know that I gave much thought about preparing for the future. In many respects, we were just getting by.
Years later, I live in Memphis, Tennessee. I am a husband, father, and grandfather to two wonderful little boys. I work with a seminary as well as preach and teach. I think more about expectations than I did at one time. Yet, I am not focused on the expectations I have of others or life in general. Rather, I think about the expectations others might have of me and how I would like to exceed some of those expectations.
I wonder sometimes how I might exceed the expectations of others.
- Could I love my friends and family more deeply than they expect?
- Could I be far more unselfish than others might expect?
- Could I be far more pleasant to my co-workers than they might expect?
- Could I be more encouraging than the average person might expect?
- Could I be more transparent with others than they might expect?
Far too often, I have been preoccupied with my own expectations and the disappointments that come from not having met those expectations. It is so easy to focus on my desires, my preferences, and my wants. As a result it becomes easy to wallow in my disappointment. I really don’t want to waste my life doing this.
How can I exceed your expectations?
The goals listed here are laudable but if ministers aren’t being nourished in their own souls and in satisfying relationships including intimate companionship in marraige striving to exceed others expectations could be contributing to a setup for a big fall. I love to help others but I can see now that when I was younger I subconsciously thought that devoting my life to serving others would somehow in the end take care of my unresolved issues. Big mistake!