Realistic expectations.
That is the insight I had from reflecting on the reading from the second book of Kings (Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures: chapter 5: 1-5ab).
Naaman is a successful general in the King of Aram’s army. He has leprosy. It is suggested by a young Jewish girl in his service that he should go to see the prophet Elisha to be cured.
Naaman meets the prophet Elisha who tells him to wash seven times in the River Jordan. Naaman is furious because he is expecting some kind of big ritual calling upon the Lord.
As I reflected on the reading it struck me that there were a lot of expectations floating around in the story. It can happen that when our expectations are not realistic, we can become frustrated, disappointed, anxious and angry. Often times, these expectations are all in our heads. People may have no idea that we expect certain things from them. The larger the gap between our expectations and the reality of the situation, the greater the frustration, anxiety, tension and anger we may feel. Sometimes we feel hurt.
We can even relate to God in this way: we may expect God to act or to answer our prayers in a certain way. We can lose faith when God doesn’t act according to our expectations.
So what can we do? We can pray. We can ask God to know, first of all, what our expectations of others may be: expectations of spouses, family members, friends, colleagues. We can then ask God to help us to be realistic when it comes to our expectations. We might even go that extra step with those people we can speak to on this level and share with them our expectations. They in turn, might share their expectations with us.
We can even share with God our expectations of Him. Don’t be surprised if God may, in turn, reveal His expectations of us.
Father Andy Prachar
Sunday Bulletin
