Premeditated Resentments
Expectations, they can make or break a relationship, a family, a dinner date, a marriage, a work environment, a sporting competition, nearly any interaction between humans really. Some folks have come to refer to expectations as, “premeditated resentments,” and that is a shockingly accurate assessment! Expectations have a funny habit of showing up in a big way around the Christmas holiday. If you don’t believe me, just try switching up your family’s routine this Christmas and you’ll quickly see how powerful these expectations hold the hearts and minds of your nearest and dearest.
I suppose the best way to describe so much of Czech culture is for you to imagine how your own family has certain traditions and expectations, but then parse this out over an entire nation. While Americans have certain widely generalized traditions, the specific traditions of our individual families are more deeply held. Imagine an entire nation with a load of such very specific traditions.
The word homogeneous is often used to describe Czech culture. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because of this homogeneity, Czechs have many shared values and common ground with one another. Everyone grew up watching the exact same TV shows, eating the same meals, celebrating the holidays the same way, learning from the same textbooks in school, and thus each has a generally accurate understanding of their countrymen’s life experiences. On the other hand, as any foreigner can attest to, in Czech Republic there really is only one way to skin a cat! Expectations are ruthlessly adhered to and enforced. Most foreigners living in Czech Republic have a similar experience of finding communication less than informative. For example, school holidays are rarely on the calendar because everyone already knows what and when they are! The expectations are so ingrained into Czech society that they don’t even know which things ought to be communicated.
Truth be told, this is how traditions at Christmas for most of us unfold as well. Add a new in-law or family dynamic into the mix and it’s a recipe for unmet expectations, or perhaps more accurately, “premeditated resentments.”
What an unspeakable gift we have in the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ! While there are certainly vast mysteries reserved in the mind of God far beyond our reach, everything we need to know is before us. If we want to know what God is like, we have the God-Man Jesus, to demonstrate who God is and what He is like. If we want to know God’s expectations for right behavior and perspective and attitudes, we have His revealed word, dispelling deceptions and misunderstanding(though many give ferociously foolhardy efforts to convolute and pervert it). What a comfort and peace it is to know God as He has revealed Himself to us. May we be ever conformed to His image, finding our joy and purposes in His pleasure, and may this Christmas find us rejoicing in our expectations of God’s fulfilled promises which will never disappoint!
