The Standard February 28, 2026
My husband occasionally says that it is one of his goals in life to lower my expectations. It is true that high expectations sometimes can cause disappointment.
Leading up to the past few weeks in Italy, we only can imagine the pressure built up by the media’s pre-Olympic hype. The NBC “Primetime in Milan” montage prominently featured figure skater Ilia Malinin as well as figure skater Amber Glenn, speed skater Jordan Stolz, snowboarder Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight from the women’s hockey team, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, speed skater Erin Jackson, and the ice dancing pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates. These athletes were billed as some of the top U.S. gold medal contenders, along with freestyle skier Alex Hall and bobsledder Kaillie Humphries. Kim, Jackson, Hall, and Humphries were 2022 Olympic champions. Most of these athletes are reigning world and/or national champions.
Shiffrin won gold in 2014 for slalom and in 2018 for giant slalom, and faced huge expectations in Beijing. Her dreams that year came crumbling down as she won no Olympic medals in her six attempts. Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, tired from years of competing in the monobob, was on the verge of quitting before the Milan Games. Fortunately, she stuck it out, and just became the oldest woman to win an individual gold at the Winter Olympics. Her sixth Olympic medal tied her with Bonnie Blair for the most medals won by a U.S. woman in the history of the Winter Games. She already was the most decorated Black woman in Winter Olympic history, improving on that record. Teammate Kaillie Humphries earned bronze.
Shiffrin, already considered the greatest alpine ski racer in history, ended up winning gold in the slalom. Chloe Kim graciously accepted the silver medal after back-to-back gold medals in 2018 and 2022. Alyssa Liu skated magnificently for gold in women’s figure skating, after returning from a two-year break and discovering the joy of pressure-free skating. Amber Glenn fought back from her short program to finish fifth, but not fulfilling her dream. Ilia Malinin struggled in the free skate, saying he felt he had no control, and found himself uncharacteristically in eighth place.
As we’ve seen, our medal expectations might be spot-on, or might be way off. This can be true of our expectations as spiritual beings. We might mistakenly expect that the Christian life will be free from trials or disappointments. Some church leaders even teach that Christians, through faith, can attain the ultimate in good health and prosperity. Jesus actually teaches the opposite. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The surpassing expectation that the Christian can have through faith is that the God of goodness and grace is with us and remains on our side. We are beloved children who have something even better waiting for us in the life to come, as partially described in the Apostle John’s vision on the island of Patmos.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” Revelations 21:3-5a
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