People have a tendency to be disappointed in others Don’t!

People have a tendency to be disappointed in other people Don’t! It is a useless exercise because people cannot alwyas live up to the expectation. At our company we try not to over-promise and under-deliver. We have spent considerable money training our staff to set realistic expectations for our customers. When we make a sale we set up a meeting with the customer prior to implementation to specifically set realistic expectations. We do not want them to think that they can buy a multi-million dollar complex software system that runs their entire operation with little or no effort on their part and everything will be working perfectly in a couple of weeks. Overzealous sales staffs that promise the moon’ with no hope of delivering only exasperate the situation and it is a constant battle to keep them in line. (Yes I am in sales.)

I am helping some fellows start a business and already it is a constant battle to try and keep them from making overly-optimistic promises that may or may not be kept. Better to play it conservative and let someone be surprised at how much better it is than to over-promise. Experience has taught me the hard way that the day will surely come when that new customer understands exactly what they bought and they will discern whether or not they have been oversold by a fast talking – ever-smiling sales person. Long-term is the outlook that is needed to survive long-term in business; bad references kill businesses and relationships. Understand this principle and do not go overboard with the promises with a keen understanding that you will be required to deliver whatever it is that you are wildly expounding upon. Unfortunately I know that and want that for my life and company, but it often does not work out that way in real life due to the ‘people will be people’ factor.

As always there is generally more than one factor that will affect expectations. It is rarely one sided! Disappointment in others can be our own fault too. If for example we are naive and put entirely too much trust or faith in a person and the person who is a flawed human being just like we are does not live up to the image’ that we have conjured up in our mind of that person, then we are going to be disappointed when they stumble or fall. I see this situation rather frequently. I love the Lord and try to share the word of God which I also love with others via WFTD. That does not make me a God and I did not hang the moon’. I have many faults just like every other poor slob on the face of the earth. If someone thinks I am Mother Teresa just because I happen to love the Lord and feel called by Him to share the word of God in the best way that I know how, undoubtedly they will be disappointed. It does not mean that I am Moses either and my interpretation of the various scriptures that I talk about are just that, my’ interpretations. I have studied the Bible and read it numerous times and I hope my take on it is very accurate and I believe it is reasonably so; however the Bible is living’ and practically every time I pick it up I learn something new and as a result sometimes see things in a different light.

Our expectation of friends, family, peers at work, political leaders, celebrities, rock stars, athletes, preachers and teachers are all subject to causing disappointment if we put too much trust in them, because everyone on this planet is flesh and subject to taking a fall. Ask anyone in the limelight if they wish they were not in the crosshairs. Celebrities and famous people of every description have their private lives torn apart by a hypocritical media hell-bent upon unearthing every flaw in their existence and plastering it all over their cheesy magazine or newspaper which is placed by every cash register at every grocery store in the world while their counterparts blabber about it inceesantly utilizing the ‘one-eyed God’ network and cable television forum to an audience as hypocrtical as they are with a never-ending appetite for trash.

What person/family is devoid of problems? Guess what we all are in the same boat, save one Jesus Christ. Jesus will never over-promise and under-deliver. He will exceed every expectation and never fail us. If you are looking for someone who will be the same today, as tomorrow, as He was 1000 years ago, or 1000 years from now, someone that you can trust no matter what, then Jesus Christ is your only’ answer. We need to put our trust in Him!

John 14:1
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God; trust also in Me.