Missed Opportunity

Look into the absolute center of the above picture and imagine a very respectable buck standing broadside. That is what I was looking at from my treestand at 7:40 this morning. I had been a little down about this seasons hunting because I've seen so few deer in either state I've been hunting in - IL & MO. This morning I went to my MO spot. It was comfortably cool and eerily quiet. I heard the buck coming long before I saw him. This is what I've practiced for, waited all year for, and put in lots of hours to achieve. The dream opportunity of the season! Unfortunately, things didn't go as I'd hoped. I don't even want to tell what happened, but suffice it to say, it was incredibly disappointing.
As I was returning home and reflecting on the morning hunt, (remember it is called hunting not killing) I thought about the connection between opportunities and blessings. In many ways they are synonyms. Opportunities are blessings and blessings are opportunities. But have you ever thought about fact that they are still blessings and opportunities even if we miss it or mess it up? In fact, I'm sure we've missed more than we've caught, because we've all had blessings and opportunities that we never even knew were there. The amazing thing is that we continue to receive blessings even though we miss some or are not grateful for the ones we got. Opportunities are the same way. If we miss an opportunity, there will be others. Even if the missed opportunity was one we desperately wanted to not miss, there will be others. I especially think about all the opportunities God gave me to learn certain things, and most of the time it took many many opportunities before I got it.
I guess the lesson is to remember that God will take care of us and he will provide us with everything we need to do the important things in life. He promised that. As far as all the other things that we "want" to do, sometimes you get multiple opportunities and sometimes you don't, but each one is a blessing even if we blow the chance. Our job is to persevere, learn, and do better the next time.
I'm ready for a picture of something besides just trees.