Is that my Ball?

I just couldn't let this get by...I had to blog it. As I was playing golf today with a friend of mine...we tee'd off a little par three and my drive apparently veered off to the right. From our perspective, it seemed to have gone into the woods. Okay, I've been there before and had every confidence that I could recover on my second shot. My partner had a fairly good shot, but his drifted to the right as well...just not as far as mine. When we got down to the green area...we immediately spotted his ball, and went to the woods to look for mine. We looked and looked and looked some more for my ball, but to no avail.

I dropped a second ball, took the penalty stroke and started to chip up onto the green. When my friend went to his ball...surprise, surprise! It wasn't his ball, it was mine! He found his ball in the sandtrap. Now, what does all of that have to do with anything? It dawned on me (and in fact, I commented on it) that we wasted alot of time wandering around in the woods, almost took a penalty stroke all because of an assumption. What was clearly before us, was overlooked and we assumed the worst because of how it "appeared" that my shot landed.

How many times in life do we do that? I have learned that not everything is as "it appears"...what I "assume" to be a bad shot, isn't always as bad as it seems. And how many times have I overlooked the obvious and "assumed" that it was something different than it really was? And...how many times have I wandered around in the "woods" because of those assumptions. How many times have I "wasted time" because of those assumptions, and what do I learn and apply to my life from these little life lessons learned on the golf course?

I must make a decision to not immediately assume that what looked "bad" is necessarily bad. We only see the external and even then through a "glass darkly"...I must also choose not to overlook the obvious based on my preconceived thoughts or notions. I have learned that making assumptions and jumping to conclusions can lead to either a lot of wasted time in the wilderness or a penalty...I have time for neither!