Expect the Unexpected

I received an email this morning that was entitled “Expect the Unexpected.”  Well, getting that email was a start.
Yet it is what I have been experiencing in recent times.  In a way I have had desires I hoped for and worked towards and yet I am totally surprised that what has been something I looked forward to, has actually arrived.  In a sense it was what I was expecting and working towards and doing stuff in preparation, but it is suddenly here.
I guess I should not be surprised but I am.  It was like I had a hope that I was deferring.  I had done heaps of preparation, but nothing was happening apart from that preparation.  I had reached the point of thinking “what is the point?”
It is weird but what I held to and would say to anyone was “hold on to the expectation because it may be a while in coming but it will come.”
I am a great believer in preparation.  I think of someone running a marathon.  The person spends a lot of time doing what needs to be done so that when the time comes, they are ready to run.  If I was told to run a marathon, I would not be ready.  I would probably be good from one telephone pole to the next, but I would have trouble going the distance.  I would not be prepared.
I remember distinctly joining a gym and feeling like what they did was like “the perfect crime”.  I was not in a position to do what was asked, and reckon it would have just about killed me.  I thought it was a perfect crime because hey, I was at the gym.  For some what was asked would be water off a ducks back but for me at the time it was a bridge too far.
The marathon may be in a year’s time.  If I had to run it (please God no) I would prepare so I could be the best I could be.  In the same way I prepare for other things that seem totally right for me, but I do not know when what I have acquired will be needed.
I was doing that and never had the goal seemed more distant and unattainable.  But as the email was headed “expect the unexpected.”  Preparation is worth it no matter the seeming delay.  For me it is a case of just being ready.