Unexpected

"Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so." -Doris Lessing

So there we were, checking in the baggage for my daughter and grand-daughter to return to Los Angeles. The Delta agent was very kind and pleasant as she indicated the one suitcase would cost $115 US dollars. I'm not sure if my chin actually touched the floor, but it did hit the counter on the way down.

I fly quite frequently and had just never had occassion to check-in an overweight bag. So the base cost was $25 and an additional $90 for ten additional pounds over the 50 pound limit. It was all so unexpected I guess but then again I shouldn't have been surprised.

It is the unexpected that presents us with opportunity. I could have gotten upset and thrown a tantrum. I could have paid the additional money and been done with it. What we did do is pull ten pounds out of the bag. It is surprising how much shoes and jeans weigh! I can now take a US Postal service flat rate box; much cheaper and send it directly to their home.

There are many times in our lives when we get confronted by a challenge. Challenges that vary in degrees of difficulty and angst. It is what we do in those moments that define the outcome. Do we let anger and frustration take over? Do we allow it to overcome our life or do we look for the possible opportunity.

I fully understand that sometimes the challenge leaves us seemingly with no choices. My daughter may have had that presented to her had she been alone. But I have always felt there are choices which are sometimes very hard to make. And we usually fail to see them because they are hard choices. We choose not to even consider them because they are hard choices.

If all I have is $25 to pay for a checked 50 pound bag, then maybe I don't need that pair of shoes or jeans. Maybe I do without something else in my life. And don't get me wrong, my daughter did not have an over abundance of things and would have made the right choices. That I am confident of. Yet I see others struggle to make those hard choices in life. I myself have had to make them.

A recent movie called "The Company Men" explores some of these hard choices we have to make in life. One of the main characters, Bobby Walker (played by Ben Affleck) continues to hang onto the material possessions even with his family's lack of money. He finally has to make a choice to give up their expensive home and his beloved Porsche. You will say, sure, thats a movie but it does reflect real life.

Last fall a local church which does great community work was giving away food for the needy. All the groceries needed for a Thanksgiving dinner plus additional food was being given to those in need. All one had to do was drive to a parking lot, drive through and they would load you up with food. It was a great success and I commend them for the great giving heart.

What I did notice were the vehicles being driven. There were many average and well-used vehicles in line. But within the ranks were very nice and very new vehicles. I had to temper my thoughts about someone driving a new vehicle but needing food to put on the table. I wouldn't presume to know the individual stories, but my outward view is that maybe they need to make a hard choice to get rid of the expensive vehicle. Maybe the right choice is to get a cheaper car and have the money to put food on the table.

That sounds harsh I'm sure and it doesn't fix everything but it is a step. Don't take me wrong here as I can't say what goes through peoples minds. I am simply trying to illustrate a point about making hard choices. The unexpected is going to happen in our lives. A car break down, a new baby, a job loss, divorce or a myriad of other events.

It is what we do in response to the unexpected. Do we take that moment to view the new opportunity? Do we take that moment to make choices which keep our lives moving forward? Do we take that moment and confront the unexpected with the unexpected?

Keep moving forward, keep living, keep making choices even when the unexpected happens. You are capable of doing great and unexpected things. Don't let the unexpected defeat you. Do the unexpected.

Expecting Good

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me." ~Carl Sandburg

We each have this tendency to go through life expecting bad things to happen to us. We figure that when times are good, something bad is about to happen. And when things are going bad, we expect them to continue to go bad. It is a self defeating attitude that gets you no where.

What if you expected good things to happen? What if encountering an elephant on a bus were a good thing and not bad? What if you looked beyond the rough exterior of another person and found something good?

Take the story of Simon Cowell. Most know him by his prickly persona on American Idol and the UK’s X Factor, which has made Simon Cowell richer than Midas.

Yet if one were to expect the unexpected, underneath the seeming brusque exterior is actually a kind and generous gentleman. Back in 2008, Simon saw the story of a three-year-old cancer patient and family in a video on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He decided quietly to help. The family had been traveling 100 miles per day for their daughter’s radiation treatments and was financially at a dead end.

Simon stepped in and gave the girl’s family enough money to completely pay off their mortgage and allow them to focus their efforts on fighting the disease. He credited Oprah with teaching him to enjoy giving and said, “I never knew that doing good could feel so good.”

The unexpected good that we find from giving, the unexpected good we find from looking beyond the outer exterior can bring new light to everything. The flat tire you get may be placing you in opportunity to meet someone that can change your life. That painful divorce may be opening a door to meeting someone so wonderful. A job loss could be a gateway to starting that business you always wanted to.

We have to begin to expect the good within the unexpected. All that appears bad on the outside is not always bad on the inside. We'll get what we expect in most cases. If we expect the bad all of the time, then it is likely that which we will find. But to start expecting something good in most everything will begin to yield better things.

Expect the unexpected and expect that it will be good.