I receive many emails. At least half of them are what I call email “e-commercials”. They pretty much immediately go to my trash folder. Today I received one of those emails, and though it went to the trash folder, the subject line did give me something to think about—expectations versus desires. This week’s article will focus on pleasant aspects of expectations.
The King James Version of the Bible has several things to say about expectation. Following are a few to ponder.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
(Jeremiah 29:11)

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
(Proverbs 10:28)

Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere,
makes your heart race, and changes you forever. Sometimes we call those people cops, and that is pleasant, if at that moment you have need of them. It is almost always pleasant when a child receives an unexpected pet as a gift from a loving parent. Meeting a new person who turns into a valued friend is most pleasant.
Who can fail to remember the unexpected joy of school children at an unanticipated snowstorm that resulted in school cancellation for a day or two? It’s not only the students who enjoy such respites due to weather. I was doing my student teaching in the spring of 1987. I found the experience stressful, to the point that I vowed if the real thing was anything like this trial run, I would do it for one year and get out while I will still young enough to pursue another career. Even the Good Lord knew I needed a break. There was a huge snowfall in April 1987 which closed schools for two days, giving me an unexpected vacation in the middle of my new and somewhat uncomfortable environment. Several years later I was principal of Sharps Chapel Elementary School. I received a call from the Central Office saying that school was being dismissed. I asked why, as all was well at my school. I learned later that there was a sudden, unexpected storm that resulted in significant snow on the ground in Luttrell, though the rest of the county was practically unaffected.
There are times when an experience shared by others leads to unexpected humor. According to my mother, real wine was once used in the observance of the Lord’s Supper at First Baptist of Maynardville, back in the days when it was Maynardville Baptist. She said she was expecting the usual “fruit of the vine” (grape juice), so she just turned it up and swigged it down. She said it burnt all the way down! I would have loved to have seen the look on her face, but it is probably better I didn’t, as I know myself well enough to know I would have burst into unexpected (and I’m sure, unappreciated) laughter.
An element of our society that many times goes unappreciated is irony. Irony is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary with Student Handbook (Nashville: Southwestern, 1973) as “a way of being amusing or sarcastic by saying exactly the opposite of what one means” or “an event or a result that is the opposite of what might be expected”. Irony in literature is often exemplified in the unexpected, surprise endings in short stories. What can be better than a short story that has a “twist” at the end, a spice of unanticipated humor.
Consider this story I shared in an earlier article. I heard this related on a 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record by a not so well-known comedian named Cotton Ivy. It seems that once there was a young man from the country who left home to go to college. Like a lot of us who went to college, his real major became “good times”. He came home for a break. A friend of his father’s came to visit, and the gentleman asked the young man how he was doing in college. The young man replied as expected, “Oh, fine.” The gentleman asked the young man what was his major, to which he replied, “Accounting.” The father said, “That’s good to hear. Now you can start ‘accountin’’ for the brassiere your momma found in your laundry last night!”
I once related that story to a female friend, and she burst out laughing. Unexpectedly, she was not so much amused at the story as my use of the word “brassiere”.
“Nobody calls them that anymore,” she snickered.
“Well, what do they call them now?”
[Ellie Mae Clampett called them double-barrell slingshots!]
“They’re called ‘bras’”, my friend informed.
“Oh well, is it ‘fun-gi’ or ‘fung-I’?” I thoughts to me-self.
It seems to me the greatest honors are those which are unexpected. Consider when a dear mentor or the family member of a dear friend asks you to do a eulogy at your friend’s funeral. What about the award of recognition received just for doing your job to the best of your ability? What about winning a contest in which you didn’t even know you were competing? What about the former student who lets you know that if not for you they would have dropped out of school? Those honors are greatest which are unsought. “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 14:11 KJV)
Hopefully this article has been UP to your expectations. Until next week, I leave you with a question to ponder.

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 8
What kind of men row boats? HEROES
QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 9
What do you see from the Eiffel Tower? (See next week’s article for the answer.)

DEFINITION OF A VINYL RECORD—Antique CD