Life and Tents

I went camping this summer, for the first time in a long time. I drove up to the campsite with a co-worker of mine, while her husband and my boyfriend had driven up earlier to go biking in the woods. When we arrived, the guys were still out biking and by the text messages they sent, they were really tired and worn out. So while we waited, we decided to serve the guys by putting up the tents so they wouldn't need to do so after such a hard ride. Laura encouraged me to put David's tent up without her so that when he got back I could impress him with my tent skills. So I worked and worked and managed to erect all of the pieces into this structure:

Unfortunately, the tent is actually supposed to look more like this (credit Sierra Designs):

Hmmm, showing off my tent skills was not really working out well at all! Lucky for me, the campsite right next to us had a nearly identical tent, so I was able to see the end product, start over, and have the tent in pretty good shape when the guys returned.

It's amazing the difference it makes when we have a picture of what the end goal is as we are working towards it. In all of life, whether it be in school, our work, competitive sports, relationships, or simply getting from day to day.... if we just have a picture in mind of what the goal is, the chances of creating a ridiculous and unusable tent are much lower :) So the next time you find yourself frustrated and disappointed with the tents you are contsructing in life, take a step back and look around... See if you can spot a tent to model yours after.