Expectations

I'm curious where we get our expectations from. Did we inherit them from our parents or maybe a close friend. Perhaps we adopted some from a book we found stimulating. Where ever they come from, they dictate much of our worldview. Taking this one step further, I'm really fascinated with people's expectations for God. This finds its expression in our traditions, in those things we hold close and are unwilling to negotiate. Most of our expectations lead to disappointment, frustration and anger. Our key assumption is that everyone (including God) knows and understands our expectations (they make sense to us therefore they should make sense to everyone else). The religious leaders in Jesus' day had their "Word of God" based expectations. They were so focused on their set of conditions that they missed the very Messiah they claimed to be seeking. I guess I wonder sometimes how much I miss because of my preconditioned expectations that I have developed over the years? Let's shift our perspective for a moment. The question we should be asking is: What are God's expectations for us? That would change everything wouldn't it?