Expectations

Dawn had a painful procedure done Wednesday so we have been hanging around the house a lot this weekend.  We have had a lot of rain and a tinge of cabin fever.  My youngest asked me real sweet Friday night if we could play a couple of board games on Saturday.  I said we could.  Each child picked a game.  Millie (my 5 year old) picked a game that takes just a few minutes to play.  We played it and moved on to Abby's game.   Abby wanted to play Monopoly.  If that is not bad enough, the Monopoly that we have is a special edition: world monopoly with credit cards.  No longer are you paying hundreds for staying at Park Place, now you are paying millions for staying in Istanbul or Cape Town or Montreal. No bills just individual credit cards.  The technology is pretty cool.  So my 5 year old and my 11 year old sit down to play against a less grandiose version of Donald Trump.  I knew we were in trouble when Millie started counting the dice (each little dot, each little time) and moving her guy around the board while sweeping the community chest cards with her elbow. Abby got sent to jail a couple of times straight out of the gate and she was telling me how she was not the kind of girl that ought to be sent to jail.  I spent an hour explaining to Abby how you buy all of one color and then start building houses.  Meanwhile, Millie was sweeping the houses off like a big tsunami everytime she reached across the board to move her man.  After an hour, things began to spiral.  One was talking about what are we going to do next, while the other was asking if we could eat.   Finally a property card was misplaced and I said if we didn't find it,we would end the game. (We lost a domino the first time we played with a new set...while sitting at the table!!!!!)  Thankfully, we did not find the property card until the board was sweep clean (by MY elbow this time) and the game was over.  Now, looking back, what was I expecting playing Monopoly with a 5 year old?  I guess I was expecting something like that.  That is why we have only played that game a couple of times in a couple of years. 
I thought about expectations when I read about the church praying for the release of Peter and then calling Rhoda foolish when she interrupted the prayer meeting to say he was there.  Acts 12:14-16 puts it this way- Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.  Isn't that interesting?  I appreciate the church praying for Peter's release.  It was apparently effective.  However, isn't it ashamed that their faith was so very weak?  First, they told Rhoda she was crazy to think Peter was free.  Then they said it was his angel. I guess that means they thought he was dead?  When they realized it was him, they were amazed that God had released him just as they had prayed. 
Let's pray with their earnestness but have greater faith that God will answer.  There is no telling what God will do when we faithfully believe as we fervently pray.  Let your life be marked by such today!