Most of us are tortured by the gap in what we think we should have and what we actually have. For middle class America, we live in parrallel tracks, one is the visible track, what we think is our actual life, and one is the expectation tract, what we think our life should be.
The expectation track isn't real. We create it. It's framed by our culture and our unique history and temperment. Sometimes it informs our activity and motivates us to create and improve. Most of the time it beats us down. It becomes the measure of our visible life. You know, I should be here, but I'm only here.
Life would be so much better if the expectation track more closely aligns with the visible track, wouldn't it? It is unrealized expectations that create the most disappointment.
Your visible track is unique to you. It really is. You can't compare it to anyone else and when you do, you add to the burden of the expectation track.
It's ok to be happy in your visible track. In fact, you should be. There will be ups and downs in life. We live in a fallen world. Things happen, our fault and not our fault.
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worring, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me.; what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Paul, writing to the Phillipians, from the Message translation, by Eugene Peterson.