Every new day brings a new lesson.: If only I had checked my email!

A lesson on Endurance.

Recently I was taught a lesson. THE HARD WAY. This is by far the worst possible way to learn a lesson. But alas, the point is made.

Many of you might be familiar with the show Saturday Night Live. It is filmed in NY and I've always wanted to go to a taping, sit in the audience, the whole shebang. Well if you don't know anything about getting a ticket let me give you the rundown. There are two different ways.

1. Wait in the standby line at the butt crack of dawn

(And by butt crack I mean 4:30a.m).

In the freezing cold. For hours. Until you think you are going to die from frostbite.

(Because it's ALWAYS cold in NY especially in January!)

Get a standby ticket. Return that evening. Wait in line even longer. Hope ticket holders don't show up and you get to go in the show!!!

This option I've tried.

However. This story ends sadly. We returned that evening and did not get to see the show. However our numbers (30,31,32) weren't that bad compared to the HUNDREDS of people there.

~~I WON'T MENTION THE FACT THAT I MISSED MICHAEL BUBLE~~!

Then there is the other way:

2. Every August NBC Studios opens their lottery for SNL tickets. You email them your contact information and you are put into the lottery for tickets. You will only hear from them if you are selected to receive tickets. You are in the running to get tickets until the next August when the lottery starts over.

So of course August rolls by and I submit my information! Month after month I check my email. Hoping that I would see an email from NBC telling me I had SNL tickets waiting for me!

Well it never happened. And I sort of gave up on the process. I thought surely I won't get tickets. My information probably got transposed. Every negative thought entered my mind. The email address I submitted was an email address I don't frequently use...and so I stopped checking it.

About a week ago something led me to check this certain email address. And lo and behold I see this!!!

I START FREAKING OUT!!! NO WAY COULD IT BE!! I GOT TICKETS OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!

I think..."When is April 9!!! How much time do I have!!! That's this weekend!!...wait...it's May...April was last month"

TOTAL FAIL.

I wish I could say that this story ended differently. That I continued to be hopeful for tickets, was checking my email every day until August. That I got tickets went to the show and it was amazing.

But it's not. Instead it's a story about how I gave up and missed out on something great. How many times in life do we give up on things, and miss out something great? In this circumstance, I saw what I missed out on. But I think, sometimes, when we give up, when we grow weary of running the race, we miss out on amazing things, sometimes never knowing what we even missed out on.

I have a big problem with giving up. I have a very low self esteem and pessimistic attitude sometimes. But God is helping me through that. And through this situation He has showed me to never ever ever ever give up. Because you could miss out on the wonderful things He has planned for you.

Darn. I should have kept checking my email!