The Difference Between Expectations and Hopes

As I have been talking to people about what I will be doing, I have been asked, “What do you expect to get out of this experience?” multiple times. Before I was considering doing the World Race, I had been reflecting on my freshman year of college, specifically my class designed for students who are undecided on their major. Going into the class, I expected that I would leave the class having chosen my major. At the end of the class, I was disappointed that I still didn’t know what to major in. I thought about my experience with the class some more and realized that even though I didn’t leave the class with a major, many good things came from it: I grew a lot, I had a great professor, and I met my first college friends. 

I began to consider why I was so disappointed with the class, and I realized that I was disappointed because my expectations weren’t met. As I pondered this further, I decided that instead of always having expectations as I go into things, I want to have hopes instead. If my expectations aren’t met, I find myself disappointed. If what I was hoping for isn’t met, I realize the other positives. It is written in Proverbs that “the hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish” (10:28, ESV).

So, as people have asked me about my expectations for the race, I have explained that I’m trying to go into with no expectations but a lot of hopes. I hope to be a part of a Christ-centered community. I hope to meet lifelong friends. I hope to grow in my faith. I hope to make a difference in each country. Because these are hopes and not expectations, no matter what happens, I can see how God has led me and shaped me through each experience instead of being disappointed because my expectations weren’t met. 

This year is not going to be easy. Only five days into training camp, I can tell you that it hasn’t been easy, but it has been good and joyful for the Lord is good and gives us immeasurable joy. God is good, and I can see he is at work in all things. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). Something I have been reminded of this week is that God is in control of it all and that he has brought all of us together for a reason. 

In all honesty, this post was in my drafts for several weeks. As I have been working on editing and getting ready to post this, I realized that I needed this reminder. As I mentioned earlier, one of the things I have been hoping for is to be a part of a Christ-centered community and find lifelong friends. I am still hopeful that this will happen, but it has been hard to find my place the past couple of days, and at times I feel isolated. When we talked about this as a group and with a few people, I realized that is how most people are feeling. As people, we all desire to be loved and accepted. It is normal to be unsure of where you belong in a group of people that have been together for less than a week. I think I was feeling disappointed today because I let my hope become an expectation to be met. There have also been times that I feel so included and loved and like a Christ-centered community is being cultivated, but I haven’t let those be the moments that speak to me the loudest. On only day 5, we are comfortable with each other and can’t stop laughing. I thank God for the people he has brought together, that I get to know them, and that I get to see Christ in them and through them. 

I have recently been praying for God to make this group of 39 people a united community that does all things out of love. A verse that I try hard to live by is 1 Corinthians 16:14: “Let all that you do be done in love” (ESV). This is a verse that I remind myself of often. In all that I say, all that I do, and all that I think, I want it to be out of love. Jesus taught, “‘By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another'” (John 13:35, ESV).