Yesterday flushed my expectations. I am beginning to recognize that my life is truly different than it was before. It all started around 6:00am. This is the hour where my two year old has taken the responsibility of waking the house.

Our intrepid toddler climbs out of his crib, releases himself from the bedroom, and turns on every light in our home. He does all this while skipping and singing his own version of "Jesus Loves Me." Every room in the house includes the bedroom of our six and four year old, mom and dad's room, and the garage. This is where the cuteness begins to fade.

We had a great day with morning activities, and lunch. This was followed up with a full contact seminar on the necessity of napping. A combination of lecture and submission holds wooed my toddler to sleep by 2:30pm. Having exhausted our reserves of energy, my wife and I retreated to the living room for our the Colby Family "Half Time Show" which consists of sweeping floors, loading dishwashers, and folding laundry. The program had a special guest this Sunday as wrapping presents demanded stage time as well.

This is when things took a turn for the worse. After a progressive dinner, which digressed from "Plan A" to "Plan Macaroni and Cheese," I made the fatal decision to watch sports on the television. Our kids realized that my wife and I intended to relax intervened by throwing toys down the heater vents, retrieving my ax from the garage, and flushing a pair of glasses down the toilet. Yes, you can flush glasses down the toilet if you try hard enough.

My kids decided to throw toys down the heater vents, retrieve an ax from the garage, and flush a pair of glasses down the toilet.

I was frustrated because things were not in alignment with my expectations. Then I realized: my expectations were out of alignment. This is my world right now and I better get used to it quickly.

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

— Hebrews 13.8

We don't cope well when our life feels out of alignment. We desperately try to realign our selves with a perception of the ways things "should be." The truth is that our "should be" should not always be. Your past and present will not look like your future. I know that this is disappointing because you have worked so hard to get where you are today. Some things are going to be more difficult looking forward. Other things are going to be better. Don't make the mistake of basing current expectations off of past realities. Adapt what you expect to be true and embrace all of the change around you. Take comfort in the few things in life that do not change. The author of Hebrews tells us that, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Hold on to that firmly and be ready to let the other stuff go.

Flushing Expectations