What is the difference between having hope and having expectations?

Question

My oh my, the thumbs down fairy has been here this morning.....I like to hear everyone's opinion without the need to have an active thumb...Peace

Answer 1

Hope is about anticipation; expectation is about predetermining outcomes. When we have hope, we live for the moment with a sense of eagerness about what is to come, looking forward to the next moment and what excitement it might bring. When we expect the next moment to be exciting, and it is not, we get disappointed and lose out on the anticipation of several moments to come as we wallow in the misery of not having our expectations fulfilled.

This, then, is the key to continuing joyful moments: Reduce your expectations to zero.

Answer 2

If you’re asking in the Biblical (or Greek/Hebrew) sense, hope means to have concrete expectations. There really is no difference. And it's only a matter of time before that thing which one hopes/expects reaches him.

If you’re asking in the Western sense, hope could be just a wish that might or might not come true. Having expectations is pretty much the same. It's a wish with an uncertain end.

In either case, the object of hope or expectations is what ultimately matters, not the one who does the hoping/expecting.

Answer 3

*laughing* oh darn, if I could tell the difference, I mean *really* tell the difference I would be very lucky indeed.

I guess expectations are always ego-based, and very specific. Hence ... nothing good comes of them. There's always something that won't fit one's exacting standards and that will make one miserable.

Hopes ... are broader, and sort of free-flowing. Hence: a hope may come true in a hundred different ways and one still feels blessed and oh, so lucky!

"That's all that faith requires: that we surrender ourselves to the possibility of hope." - Babylon 5

Answer 4

[lines from T.S. Eliot's "East Coker":]

The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless....

I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed....

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing....
.

Answer 5

I hope I'll marry Jack Sparrow and have his babies. Hope is idle wishes.

I expect Jack Sparrow to dive in the shark infested ocean and fetch me the treasure chest! Expectations are high maintenance demands.

Answer 6

I hope I switched the oven off, but I expect my it will rain the next time I forget my umbrella.

Answer 7

I lost all hope until I received Jesus I went in my room and said Jesus I am a sinner.Forgive my sins Come into my heart Jesus.And I felt peace and love come in my heart.Jesus saved me.Now I have a personal relationship with Him.I Obey the Holy Spirit promptings as best as I can.It is not about being perfect (THAT IS UN REAL) It is about LOVE.s in my heart......

Answer 8

Hope is a container for our fear. Expectations are an invitation to disappointment.

Answer 9

Hope is a desire, expectation is the result of reasoning.

Answer 10

Hope is the idea that in the end, everything will turn out okay.
Expectations are desired events that your foresee happening.