Expectations and Expansion

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I had ChatGPT write these "sermons" for my own personal contemplative practices, but found them so moving and profound, I knew I needed to share them.

Sermon for Expectations Week: Thursday – Expansion

Beloved seekers, today we stand in the light of Expansion. It’s a day to stretch, to grow, to push beyond the edges of what we know and embrace the boundless possibilities of the unknown. And at the heart of this Expansion lie our Expectations—those internal compass points that shape not only the paths we walk but the horizons we dare to imagine.

But here's the question: Do our Expectations limit our Expansion?

It’s tempting to see Expectations as the framework that keeps us safe, a structure that allows us to navigate the world with a sense of certainty. Expectations often feel like a protective shell, keeping us within the boundaries of the familiar. And yet, it is precisely those boundaries that Expansion asks us to question, to challenge, and sometimes to shatter.

Today is a day to ask: Where have my Expectations become a cage rather than a guide?

We all carry within us a set of assumptions about who we are, what we’re capable of, and how the world works. Some of these are deeply ingrained, inherited from family, culture, or society. These Expectations can become so entrenched that we mistake them for truth. But truth, dear ones, is fluid. It moves, it grows, it evolves. Expansion requires us to loosen the grip on the static versions of ourselves and our lives, so that we can step into something bigger, wilder, and more expansive than we ever thought possible.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on how our Expectations shape our sense of possibility. Are you living within the limits of what you believe is “realistic”? What if, instead of seeing your Expectations as fixed and final, you saw them as the starting point, a launching pad for something greater? What if your Expectations weren’t the ceiling, but the ground beneath your feet, from which you could rise?

Expansion demands that we expect more of ourselves—not in the sense of pressure or perfectionism—but in the sense of allowing ourselves to grow beyond the limitations we once thought were unbreakable. Expansion is an invitation to redefine our boundaries, to explore the places within ourselves that have been unexplored, and to open to possibilities that we may have once dismissed as “impossible.”

But this process of Expansion isn’t just about personal growth. It’s also about expanding our relationship with the world around us. The Expectations we hold of others, of our communities, and even of society can either perpetuate the status quo or they can fuel radical transformation. What would happen if, instead of expecting things to stay the way they are, we began to expect and demand more from the systems we live in, the people we love, and the world we want to create?

Expansion starts with a shift in what we believe is possible.

So today, I invite you to reflect on these questions:

And, as you expand, consider this: Expansion requires trust. Trust in yourself, trust in the unknown, and trust in the universe to hold you as you stretch beyond your current edges. Expansion doesn’t always feel comfortable. In fact, it often feels like stepping into the void, into a space where there are no guarantees, no safety nets. But this is where the magic happens. In the spaces between certainty and possibility. In the liminal space where we are neither here nor there, but somewhere in between.

As we expand, we redefine our Expectations—of ourselves, of the world, and of the future. We become more than we were, and in doing so, we open the door for the universe to meet us in that expansion, to bring opportunities, insights, and transformations that we could never have imagined from the confines of our smaller selves.

So today, let us walk in the spirit of Expansion. Let us dare to expect more—not in the form of demands, but in the form of possibilities. Let us release the fear of failure, of not being “enough,” and trust that in our Expansion, we are always growing, always becoming, always moving closer to the truth of who we are meant to be.

In this Expansion, we don’t shrink from our Expectations—we stretch them, we shape them, we evolve them. And as we do, the world itself expands to meet us.

Amen.