Expectations are such tricky things, aren’t they? They parade themselves around as pleasant and harmless, but too often they end up ruling like tyrants, extracting an impossible price for our contentment. I still remember a conversation about expectations from a bridal shower I attended more than a decade ago. Somewhere between sampling the refreshments and sailing into all her pretty gifts, the guest of honor shared her most enlightening moment from premarital counseling thus far. Their pastor had begun by asking the couple to each make a list of the expectations they had for the other heading into marriage. Perhaps intending to be self-sacrificing, the husband-to-be promptly announced that he…