No Expectations?!?

Is this possible in our relationships?  Is it possible to have no expectations of people, especially those who you've invested in the most?  Would it be right, or would it just lead to apathy?

This is a thought that I have been confronted with several times in the past few weeks.  I was exposed to it in the book 'The Shack'.  It was a powerful statement when I first read it: God doesn't have expectations of me.  This isn't to say that he doesn't want us to follow Him and his Truth, but He knows our nature.   So instead of feeling let down when we screw up, He simply is there to pick us up and show us the Way.  Because He had no expectations in the first place, He is not inhibited to continue teaching, leading, guiding, correcting, and loving us unconditionally and with abandon.

I was recently at an ACSD conference that gathered RDs from Christian universities around the mid-west, where this exact thing was discussed.  We were called to live in relationships with no expectations.  This is tough for me to comprehend.  Often I feel when I pour myself into someone in a mentoring, discipleship, or even friendship role, they owe it to me to not mess up; to perform at a higher level.  Is it ridiculous for me to think like this?  Aren't we supposed to expect more from those we are bringing alongside us?  

The thing that I have to remind myself of, is that the person is on a journey, and unfortunately we humans tend to learn from our mistakes (many times it takes multiple mistakes).  So when you find yourself in a Paul-type position, don't allow yourself to be discouraged or to give up when someone "let's you down", even if it is the 30th time.  Let go of your pride and realize that they are not living for you; and that their mistake is not a reflection on your ability to lead them.  Rather, be there to humbly pick them back up and continue guiding them on their own personal journey because, although that may be their 30th correction, it could just be that it is the 30th in a line of 31 and there is only one more to go in the process that is molding and shaping them into the image of Christ.  

Let me know what you think about this concept?  Is it way off line?  Is it a challenge to you?  Should we make a shift to start thinking like this?