Greensy Grumblings

What are you like on Christmas Eve?
Are you a nervous wreck waiting for the light of morning so you can rip open the presents waiting for you?
Do you go to bed early so that you can sleep and get to the morning quicker?
Do you keep getting up, looking to see if the presents are under the tree yet?

I have been doing some thinking about expectations the last couple of days.
It is a good time for me to think about it, because I have 3 different events that I have expectations of.

Firstly, last week I handed in my final assignment for my Bachelor of Theology.
Secondly, I am waiting patiently (or not so...) for a new computer game to arrive in the mail.
Thirdly, I am expectant of Melissa and my' move to Footscray at the end of the year.

I was a bit stressed last week, I had a few things on with work and had to get my assignment finished to hand in.
After a busy night on Tuesday, I handed in my assignment on Wednesday.
I suppose that I wasn't expecting huge fireworks and congratulations, but the event passed with very little significance.
Melissa and I went out for tea on Wednesday evening, but it was with a bunch of other people for a work dinner.
I didn't have high expectations, but I was still left feeling flat after the event had passed.
I suppose my Valedictory dinner (where I get to make a speech) and the Graduation Ceremony will be the 'official' completion moments of my degree.

For anyone who doesn't know, I love Football Manager. Well the 2007 version was due to be released in Australia last Thursday.
Melissa agreed that I could get it once I had handed in my last assignment, as an end of degree treat.
So last thursday I went to the local computer games shops trying to find a copy.
There were none, all the shops said it was due in a couple of weeks.
So I looked on the Internet and an Australian distributor said they could get it to me by this Thursday.
But I decided to look at the U.K. based games companies and found that I could get it delivered earlier and cheaper than if I bought it in Australia.
So I ordered it last thursday and counted off the days till it was to arrive.
It hasn't arrived yet, but it might come today or tomorrow, if it meets their delivery schedule.
I am very expectant, I can't wait.
I know that the game will live up to my expectations, not only because I have played the 2006 version, but also because I have been playing the demo.

The expectations of our move to Footscray are starting to build steam.
The days are ticking away and the weeks are flying by. The closer we get the more we are starting to organise the nuts and bolts of our move.
The more we organise the higher the excitement.
They say that change is as good as a holiday, well this change will be a 6 month backpacking tour of the world.

Expectations are funny things. We all have them. We have them of events, we have them of people.
How realistic are they? Was it realistic for me to expect the office lady at college to do a little dance as I handed in my final assignment. Was she to cry and say how much she would miss seeing me around the place?

Perhaps it is realistic for me to think that my computer game, ordered on Thursday in England, could arrive at my front door on Monday morning thanks to the miracle of modern air travel. It may have been a realistic expectation, but it didn't come to fruitition.

I work with lots of different people. A lot of them know that I belong to the church and so I get to have some interesting conversations.
It is amazing what people expect from God. Some people expect God to be like Santa. Handing out gifts that we get to unwrap and play with.
Some people expect God to jump up and down and do a little dance every time they do something good.
Some people expect God to work to their timetable, looking at their watch and tapping their foot because he hasn't delivered on time.

We don't think too much of a child who can't wait for Christmas morning.
But when an adult makes the same fuss on Christmas eve we worry.
What about your expectations of God?
Should we be worried?

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