Evelyn: Nothing here has worked out quite as I expected.
Muriel: Most things don’t. But sometimes what happens instead is the good stuff.
This bit of dialogue from the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is one of my favorite parts of the film. (Leave it to Judi Dench (Evelyn) and Maggie Smith (Muriel) to come through for us again!) It makes two very worthwhile points.
First, most things don’t work out the way we expect. I’ve found that to be true in both directions: some things are better than I thought they would be (remember the TV show Doogie Howser?) while others don’t live up to my expectations (such as this fourth of July at the ballgame when the D’backs lost and two guys next to us got into a fight and carried on all through the fireworks). It’s easy to receive when things unexpectedly turn out well, but how well do you accept the disappointments? Can you see the blessings in those? These might well be the times Muriel is referring to as “the good stuff,” a second memorable point from the film.
To receive with grace and ease, we need to be ready for anything and then be willing to receive it. My experience participating in an Arthritis Foundation marathon in Amsterdam is an example of the proverbial silver lining in the cloud. After I spent months training to race walk the marathon, the event organizers were not prepared for walkers and began shutting the course down after I had been walking only 90 minutes. To make a long story short, much to my embarrassment and extreme disappointment, I never completed the marathon. What was the good stuff? I ended up in excellent physical shape and met my primary goals of raising $4500 and taking my daughters to Europe. In addition, I wasn’t sore the day after the marathon like everyone else was, enabling me really enjoy my first time in Europe! The good stuff is there, if we’re open to receiving it.