Don't Miss the Boat!

Lately I've been thinking about a joke I once heard. It's about a man in the ocean who was drowning and a couple of fisherman in a small boat happened by. The fisherman said to the man, "give us your hands we'll pull you in." The man replied, "No, that's ok, God will save me." A few minutes later, a yacht came near the man and threw a life ring in the water yelling, " take the ring, we'll pull you aboard." Still, the man refused saying, "Don't worry, my Father in heaven will rescue me." After another while, the man really began to struggle to stay afloat when a cruise ship came up to him. They threw him a life boat and shouted, "get in and row towards the ship and we'll save you." Once again the man replied, "No thank you, I have faith that God Almighty will save me!" As the cruise ship sailed away, the man's struggle became too much for him and he drowned. Once he got to heaven he met his maker and asked, "God, I had so much faith that you would save me! Why did you let me drown?" God replied, "I sent you three boats!" I guess it's more of an allegory really.

How many times have you missed the boat because "salvation" didn't appear the way you imagined? External influences and indoctrination cause us to formulate ideals and expectations of how our desires will manifest. God, The Great Spirit, the universe, fate, or whatever you call the higher energy that seems to move throughout our world gives us ample  blessings, opportunities, and chances to fulfill our needs and desires, but we are often blind to them because they don't appear the way we expect.

I'm learning that the best thing to do is to eliminate expectations altogether. Once we open our minds and hearts to all possibilities, we are then able to let go of ideals that keep us from seeing what's right in front of us. Media seems to influence most areas of our lives. We are told what beauty is, what love and success looks like, and even what will make us happy. All of these things are subjective and will therefore look different for different people. Once we stop allowing outside influences to dictate how we think, feel, and behave, then we let go of expectation.

Now this doesn't mean that one should not have hope or be optimistic. Though hope and optimism both involve expectation, one is not attached to the outcome. When we are hopeful or optimistic about a situation's outcome, we essentially "willing" the best to happen rather than looking for the best to appear as we imagine. For example, if the drowning man was "hopeful" and "optimistic" about God saving him, he would have recognized the boats as being his salvation. Instead, the man must have had "expectations" of a giant hand reaching from the sky and snatching him up out of the water.

Be hopeful and optimistic that the best will happen for you. Let go of your preconceived notions of what "the best" is and you will be able to recognize it when it comes. Miracles happen around us everyday...don't miss the boat! Peace and blessings.