Nexpectations

Shauna woke up from her nap with a start.

Her left earbud was nothing but static! It was no longer playing the soothing ocean sounds bluetoothed from her cell phone that had provided her with peaceful sleep.

She tapped the earpiece, but the static just got worse. She cursed her brother under her breath! He had borrowed them the day before and they hadn’t worked right since.

If they were broken he was going to die a slow and painful death! She thought.

She threw herself off the bed and stomped out of the room, screaming her brother’s name as she went. She checked his room. Not there. Checked the bathroom. Not there. She headed down the stairs, taking them three at a time, murder on her mind.

No sign of him in the living room, but she could hear noises in the kitchen, the next logical place for the little demon to be in residence. Revenge was just a few steps away and she smiled at the thought of the impending satisfaction. But, to her dismay, he wasn’t there either. Her mother was there though, and at least she would be able to get him convicted and sentenced in one swift move.

“Mom!” She yelled. “Where is the brat?! 

Her mother was standing at the sink, rinsing out a bowl, which she calmly placed in the dishwasher, closing the door with a knee before turning to face her daughter with her hands on her hips.

“He and your father left an hour ago to go see some movie he has been begging to see. Why? And why are you yelling? 

Shauna rolled her eyes. “Great! That totally figures. The little brat breaks my earbuds and then gets rewarded by going to a movie. That little creep owes me some new earbuds! He already basically destroyed my Playstation after destroying his own first, and he broke my phone just a couple months ago! By the way, when do I get a phone that doesn’t have a shattered screen on it?”

Now it was her mother’s turn to roll her eyes. “Shauna, are you listening to yourself? You just spent a lot of energy complaining about a bunch of broken things. Things that you don’t really need and didn’t have to pay for in the first place. I would suggest that you keep that in mind before you start calling your brother names and acting like they are something more important than he is. Maybe it’s time you got a job and started buying these types of things yourself. I am going to bet that you would quickly decide that they aren’t as important as you think.”

Shauna’s eyes went wide! “ Are you kidding me? Not important? Mom, name one kid you know that doesn’t have that and a whole lot more! Most of my friends already have their own car! I have to ride my bike to school and even then, it’s a piece of junk that you rode back in the stone age! It’s embarrassing. My phone is embarrassing and you know I can’t sleep or do my homework without my earbuds!”

Her mother took her wet hands off her hips and grabbed a towel off the counter. A deep frown creased her forehead and she squinted her eyes, fighting back the infancy of a headache creeping its way into her frontal lobe. She wasn’t sure what to say. Wasn’t sure what to say because in many ways Shauna wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t right about what she “needed”, but wasn’t wrong about the fact that her expectations weren’t out of the norm. They were the norm! And what would come next? What would she and her brother “need” next? What would this culture of wants add to the new norm? The next unreasonable expectation...or nexpectation she thought. 

Nexpectations. Yep,I made that word up just this morning for this story. And quite honestly, I think it needs to be added to the dictionary because it more accurately describes the rapid and ever-expanding evolution of expectations in developed countries... first world countries. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not condemning anyone. I would be condemning myself and the vast majority of people in first world countries. But it has become the new norm and it really isn’t something sustainable. Our supply chain problems are evidence of that. There are cargo ships parked on the ocean filled with many things that we really do need, and should be manufacturing ourselves, but also a lot of things that we have simply become quickly accustomed to having over the last couple of decades. And now they are being integrated into everyday life in such a manner that they are rapidly evolving into something that just may become a new need in developed nations. 

As I said, I don’t condemn this evolution, but it does come with it’s own problems. And it does fly in great contrast to the expectations of the orphan children, and now widows, that we work to help every day. I just wonder if the world as a whole needs to spend a little more time considering that contrast and focusing on a new kind of nexpectation? Balancing the new latest and greatest desire with a little more focus on the basic needs missing in a very large portion of our globe.

These are orphans and widows whose expectations were nothing before you started helping them in partnership with Orphan’s Lifeline. Their expectations were nothing because that is what they had the day before. And the day before that. They didn’t expect that they might eat, only hoped that they might. They didn’t expect that they would find a warm place to sleep because that wasn’t guaranteed either by any means. They certainly didn’t expect to get an education and they may have heard of God, but hadn’t seen even a tiny example of His love in their lives before you!

They certainly didn’t have any nexpectations and they probably never will. But what they do have now is hope! What they do have now is faith. What they do have now is a warm feeling in their hearts that they are loved by God and can see that love at work every day in their lives. What they do have allows them to go to sleep at night with a smile on their face, warm and secure. Happy in the most humble and basic of terms.

Over the past year many amazing things have happened because you have exactly the kind, caring, and balanced heart I am talking about. Unfortunately, you are the exception and not the rule; and we need more of you!

In 2021, we continued to care for the same thousands of children we did last year, despite the complications presented by the Pandemic. But we were also able to do much more than even the year before!

We were able to help feed hundreds of new orphan and widow families that suffered because of the pandemic in India. We built and furnished seven humble homes in our new program in Kenya for widows who were trying to raise their children in mud huts that once housed pigs or chickens. There, we also were able to provide for dozens of new orphan and widow families through our new orphan and widow family sponsorships. We were able to provide funding for the Church of Christ community program there as well, where dozens of children are fed and cared for and taught God’s Word. And much more!

It is truly amazing what you have made possible during a year that has been very trying and difficult for us all. God has truly blessed this mission with faithful partners and given us hope that next year will even be a better one for the orphans and widows than this year has been. That is our hope. That is our humble, but bold prediction. Our nexpectation...