Expectations

My ever wise sister in law was visiting last week and told me a parable of a sort that has had me thinking all week. A women was going on a trip to Italy she was so excited she had been prepping and preparing for her trip for weeks. She couldn't stop thinking of all the amazing Italian food she would consume. The rolling vineyards and the feeling of romance in the air. She boarded the plane with smells of hot espresso floating in her head. When she finally landed she looked out the window and realized she was not in Italy but instead had landed in Germany. She was devastated this is not what she had expected. She had plans and German beer was not in the picture she wanted Italian wine.

This is what it is like having an out of the ordinary child. When you are "expecting" you have all these visions of your child's future what it will be like. Then one day you realize you landed in a different country and things are not what you had expected. The question is can you learn to realize all that landing in Germany has to offer. Can you enjoy the German beer and sausages and all the history they have to offer or not?

We all have a choice. We can look at whats different with failed hopes and dreams or we can embrace our future with new and sometimes better hopes and dreams. Everyday we have to make a choice to except our present and find joy in what we have been given or live in sorrow of failed expectations. What joy can you find today in the land you did not expect to be living in? For me it is that have a son who is more loving and loyal then I could have ever imagined. I did not expect that but it is a beautiful gift of my present.