From the famous Rolling Stones song:
No, you can't always get what you want
No, you can't always get what you want
No, you can't always get what you want
But if you try sometime, you just might find
You get what you need
I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I watch my kids decide on their futures and try, and sometimes fail at their goals in life. We have all heard the concept in many different songs and thoughts and quotes. The bottom line is that sometimes we want something and don't get it, and sometimes we get things we don't want, and more often than not, we may not get what we want, but we get something different. BUT, we are always blessed, even amidst the storms of life.
I remember in Junior High wanting to be somebody. I wanted to be a part of Student Council. When I made my campaign speech, I felt as if everyone in the room was laughing at me. I felt devastated. I am not sure if anyone was laughing or not, and it no longer matters, but that feeling stayed with me for life.
When I got into high school I thought I would try again. There was this 'exclusive" club called the "Debs". I really wanted to belong, but didn't get accepted into it. Now as an adult, I can't figure out why I would ever want to belong to something like that. In fact, it wasn't even the most popular girls that were in it. Did it make it worse that they didn't want me? Of course it did.
As a junior in high school I decided to try out for our drill team. I remember the night when they came to get my sister because she had made it, and they never came and got me. Her room was right next to mine, and I heard them whispering how sad it was that I didn't make it, but that she did. I laid in my bed hoping I had heard wrong and that someone would come get me. They never did. I was told I was an alternate, but that didn't help. I wanted to be on the team. That summer I got a call that one of the girls had dropped out and I was now on the team. I was happy, excited, and yet felt robbed. I didn't get that glory of going to school the next day and everyone knowing that I made it. Instead, when school started back up, many people came up to me and said, "I thought you didn't make it". Kind of embarrassing. But I worked hard to prove I belonged and continued to do so the whole year. I was nominated most improved at the end of the year. I could choose to be flattered, or to feel dumb. I felt both. but I am grateful for what I almost didn't get. I may have been the worst on the team to begin with, but it made me work HARD to prove I belonged, even if I did start out as alternate. I was at least a part of the team!
I had also tried out for Orchesis, our modern dance club, and didn't make it, but I tried again my senior year and did make it. I also made drill team again, and wanted more than anything to be the Historian. We actually campaigned within drill team and I lost. I was given the job of treasurer though. Consultation prize? Maybe, but I made the most of it and got to be an officer. Maybe not what I wanted, but it was what I needed.
Life has been full of goals not met, because something else was given to me. You can say that it is God's plan, or fate, or how things should be. I am not sure if it is so, but I do know that it is within OUR power to make the best of each situation we are given, and to be grateful for what we are given even if it is not what we planned. It is all in the attitude. Nothing is perfect, but we can view our life as perfect for us, if we accept things for what they are and realize that it is OUR life and we are writing the book, even if the story keeps changing. We are what we make ourselves. We can either be disgruntled because we are not the Historian, or we can be happy that we are the Treasurer. It is our choice.
