Albania
You don't fool me. I know you expect it. Everyone expects wittiness when reading a blog. Something about the stream of thought, conversational style of a blog seems to demand it. Well… I don't have any for you. Sorry, but there it is. How are you feeling now? Disappointed? Saddened? Downtrodden? You're considering clicking to the next screen anyway. Don't shake your head at me. I know you are. The "click here for a free ipod" pop-up on the side of your screen is looking pretty good right about now, yes?
Expectations are funny things. We hope, we pray, we beg and plead, we EXPECT this THING (whatever it is… blogs to be witty, friends to give birthday gifts, family to understand us) that we need in order to ensure our happiness. When we don't get it, we are understandably crushed. Sometimes only for the moment, but sometimes… sometimes unmet expectations leave scars. When we do get that THING though, rarely do we truly appreciate it. Instead we look at it as if it were our due, and we are off longing for more, for bigger and better. The only part of the process that anyone gets enjoyment out of it seems, is the anticipation of the thing, rather than the thing itself.
So what if we remove the expectation? How much more do we appreciate the THING when it is given just… because? How much more do we appreciate the PERSON for the thought behind the THING? Because the thought is, after all, what tells us that we are loved. And that's what it is really all about isn't it? Wanting to know that we are loved? That we are appreciated, valued, SEEN? That we are worth a $13 trip to the movies (highway robbery, if you ask me). Wanting someone to say, yes, you mean enough to me that I would willingly part with my hard earned (I had to lock-up a deserted corner 30 miles from the set in the freezing cold) $20 bill in order to take you out to dinner. Or I love you so much that I would give up 5 1/2 out of my 6 free hours in the week to build you a paper machete heart with bible verses written all over it because I know how much you adore anything that involves glue and God.
What if we lived our lives free of expectations? What if we just enjoyed whatever happened to come our way? What if we not only had faith like a child's, but joy like them as well? What if, instead of waiting for someone to give us something to prove that we are loved (umm, b.t.dubs., God actually already did that. His name is Jesus.), we show others that we loved them? What if we went first?
After all, how can they not help but love you back? You're the person who made them a giant paper machete heart. Who wouldn't love that?
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A few of my NEW favorite things…
My new favorite book: Stuff Christians Like, by Jonathan Acuff
My new favorite country: Albania
My new favorite drink: black tea
My new favorite scarf: gray and purple and big enough to wrap around me like a shawl
My new favorite movie: Crazy, Stupid, Love
My new favorite teammate: Melissa Lowell
My new favorite restaurant: PizzaOne
My new favorite team activity: girl talk (with the boys)
My new favorite currency: …NOT the 'Leke'
