Disappointing Seasons

Most of the football fans around here have suffered through disappointing seasons. The Cajuns who went to and won four bowl games in a row couldn’t beat anyone this year. LSU, at one time rated Number 2, ended up almost firing their coach. Then there are the Saints. How far the  mighty have fallen.

On the other hand, the Florida Gators had a great season. They ended up in the SEC championship game and will play Michigan on New Years Day. Now the gators lost three games so far, just like LSU. The difference is expectations. LSU hoped to contend for a national championship. Florida figured it was going to be another rebuilding year. No one expected them to do as well as they did. The difference between satisfaction and disappointment isn’t so much fact but expectation.

Fourteen people in California expected to have a nice time at a Christmas party and ended up dead. The family of a teenager in Lafayette expected a fun basketball game and ended up with a dead teen age son. We expect to be safe in our daily lives. We expect our kids to outlive us. It doesn’t always happen.

Perhaps we need to adjust our expectations. We shouldn’t expect to have a life free from the impact of violence. The facts just don’t support that. We shouldn’t expect to live to a ripe old age. Not everyone does. We should not expect to always have a good job. Look around Acadiana.

It’s all about avoiding a sense of entitlement. LSU isn’t entitled to a national championship every year. UL isn’t entitled to a bowl game every year. The Saints had one super bowl season. That may be all they will every get. We aren’t entitled to life or liberty or even a lot of happiness. We need to be much more thankful for what we have while we have it. We need to have realistic expectations.

That doesn’t mean we should be hopeless. We just need to be careful what we put our hope in. Jesus never fails or disappoints as long as we followers expect what the one we follow had: a daily walk with God, a life of purpose, peace in the midst of storm, eternity in Glory. Talk about Great Expectations. There’s no disappointment in that season.