Have you ever believed something and then found out your belief was false?  I had one of those days a few weeks ago.  Nadine and I ventured up to Flagstaff for the weekend and did our 4+ mile walk through the forest trees, smelling the fresh pine smells and blue sky.  Did I tell you it was Flagstaff where the temperature is 25-30 degrees cooler?  Anyway on this walk I spied a large bird in the trees that I swore was a bald eagle.  It had a white head and black body.  Here is what I saw.

As we approached to get a closer look, be began to notice something different about this large bird.  It did have a white head and a black body, but we also noticed a black strip on its eyes and a white underbelly.  What we saw from a distance in our mind was changed as we walked closer and closer.  Although  we wanted it to be a bald eagle, we realized that it wasn’t what our minds told us, but was an osprey.

Don’t get me wrong.  It was a wonderful sight to see such a magnificent bird and the way it flew in the air, but our minds were anticipating the validation of what we wanted it to be.  It was a  let down to realize that the bald eagle turned out to be an osprey.

This kind of thing happens in life all the time.  We are taking a test and are sure we know the answers to the questions only to realize that our answers weren’t the ones the teacher was looking for.  We are in a relationship and think that we have a bald eagle kind of picture, and the person we are with turns out to be different from what we anticipated.  We may have studied long and hard for a job of our dreams and when we get closer to realizing our potential, the real thing turns out to be different that our fantasy.  If we hold on to our initial impressions, we are doomed to disappointment rather than changing our mindset of what we see presently and appreciating what we do see and do have.

On this journey there will be times when life and relationships take a right or left turn and we weren’t expecting the turn.  Embrace the here and now and appreciate what you have.