Accxpect

Yes, it's a made-up word. No, it will probably never make it into the dictionary. It's a combination of two words: accept and expect. When we accept things, we let them be exactly what they are. We don't insist that they become something else.

As long as we are capable of envisioning time in its triune categories of past, present, and future, we will use the two former classifications to create expectations regarding the latter one. Memory and reality are the key ingredients for basic predictions about the future.

I believe that joy is regularly available to those who balance expectation and acceptance, specifically those who are capable of letting acceptance trump expectation. How can this be accomplished? I know of but one way. It is to expect good in and from every person and circumstance and then to accept what arrives.

To do otherwise – say to expect the worst and then to accept that – can only lead to despair. Or to expect awful and to then not accept it leads to perpetual anger. When you expect good things, the first thing that happens is that you will find/recognize more good than if you were looking for crap. For the most part, we will find what we are looking for.

Recognizing more grace, then, and choosing not to try and "fix" what doesn't appear to be gracious, is a plan that leaves plenty of space for God's mystery to gift us. If you haven't left any room for God’s surprise, I highly recommend giving it a try.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins