Hopes and Expectations

Faith is one of the most significant aspects of human existence, both when it is given and when it is received. The knowledge that someone expects the best from us works wonders in our lives.

We give our best when the best is expected of us. When we realize that someone has high hopes in us and the faith that we are capable of high performance, we tend to fulfill their hopes.

If the high expectations others have in us to realize them, it is also true in the case of negative behavior. The undesirable behavior of many children may be the result of the expectations by parents, teachers and class mates that they will behave in that manner.

The expectations of people significant to us is communicated to us in diverse ways, often quite unwittingly through a smile, a nod, their tone of voice, posture, facial expressions and so on. These tend to change our belief in ourselves and encourage us to do better.

If someone expects to behave in a friendly manner towards him, we do not become hostile. We do not behave harshly towards someone who believes we are kind and gentle. We tend to be helpful towards someone who we know expects our help and counts on our helpfulness.

We make our lives successful because there are people who believe in us and set us on the road to confident achievement. They often do that even before we are capable of consciously believing in ourselves. If we esteem ourselves, it is because others have esteemed us first. The great gift a person who loves us can give to us is to have faith in us.

From early childhood we grow because of the love we receive from others at a time we are only capable of receiving. Whether we like or not, we are dependent on other people who are important in our lives and who make us grow by the faith they response in us. We are trusting and trustworthy because others have trusted us first. We become lovable because others have loved us and made us lovable.

It is a common experience that those who love us bring out the best in us. We respond to their love in ways that promote our own growth. Our splendid dreams in life, our hidden talents and noble aspirations blossom in the sunshine of the warmth and acceptance that others offer us.

The love and acceptance given to people who need it for their growth, is not wasted. There are so many us in whose lives there is at least one person to whom we attribute a key role in our success drama. We can tell them that we are successful because they thought that we could be.