Expect the Best

Have you ever prejudged someone without getting to know them first? Teachers do it all of the time! We look out over a room of young people and try to instantly figure out which ones are going to give us trouble. That's a survival skill, really! :-)

Today I got a new student in class. She was super sweet when she came in the door and it was awesome to get to know her today. But before that she was telling me things that are going on in her life and it would have been SO easy to develop a poor impression of her by those experiences. But somehow, I didn't. Maybe it's because I've met lots of other kids like her with similar problems, I don't know, but my heart instantly went out to her instead of judging her or assuming that she would be a difficult child.

I haven't always been this way. There are MANY times when I did the wrong thing; I actually labeled people when I met them, especially students. There are many studies showing that teachers who expect the most out of their students (even the lowest ones) get better test results, more students coming to class, and a higher level of academic progress. So, if as teachers, we are supposed to expect the best from our students, why can't all of us expect the best from each other? What if we decided NOT to label people when we met them? What if we got to know each person before deciding what "type" of person they were? What if we anticipated their decency as human beings instead of waiting to get hurt? What if we interpreted people's actions in the best possible light instead of assuming they were meaning to hurt us? What kind of world would this be then?

Wait--you say--this could end with me getting hurt if I expect too much from the wrong person! Well, yeah it could. But wouldn't that be a learning experience too? Wouldn't your disapproval help the other person become more than they might be without having failed you? Wouldn't you understand how to communicate you expectations more efficiently and accurately? I think our world today is just too judgmental. We need to see people not just for who they are, but for what they can become and treat them with respect no matter what.

God expects the best from us and we disappoint him OFTEN. But that doesn't stop him from expecting us to grow more and more like His son! It's that expectation, the drive to please Him, that helps to urge us forward toward an impossible goal. Be that encouragement for someone else today. Help them by expecting more of them, yourself, & your relationship.