Let's admit it. We have become a society that is driven by media, whether it's social media, news media, internet/website, YouTube, or even public radio/tv. Regardless of the topic, most have this inner longing for everything to have a happy ending. But many of our life events, which aren't shared a lot on social media, are the topics of wrong choices, dead-end streets, or the stars who "almost" won the championship.
Yesterday for me was one of those "almost" days. My husband and I had set out to do some hiking at a nearby waterfall so I Googled the nearest falls. To my surprise it was only about 20 minutes from our new home in South Carolina. Having recently moved to the area, I've found discovering new places like an adventure. The navigation told us we would arrive at Rainbow Falls Road at a certain time via some backroads. Then I again Googled the falls name Rainbow Falls. The images were amazing and so we decided to take a drive out in the country.
The roads were hilly and windy with the signs of spring everywhere. The dogwoods and cherry trees are blooming now and they were gorgeous. I kept picturing in my mind the waterfalls and our trek up to this 150 foot drop waterfall. Watching the navigation with great expectation, we turned the last bend and saw the sign: Rainbow Falls Road, fishing ahead.
However... my eyes didn't line up with my former vision. What? Is this the Rainbow Falls? Well, yes and no. It was a falls (at one time) from a dam for a powerplant back in the early 1920's. The dam generated electricity that powered nearby cities and cable cars from Aiken, SC to Augusta, GA. The rainbow? The engineer had structured the overflow side of the dam in the "shape of a rainbow."
There were no falls, only a small creek that trickled over a few, old man-made pieces of concrete and rocks. So much for our adventurous trek in the cool, damp forest.
So what happened? There is and still is a Rainbow Falls in SC about 3 hours from our house, but the phone search just took me to the "nearest" thing that had the words "rainbow falls." I just assumed that the Rainbow Falls Road near us would take us to the falls. My assumptions were wrong. Thus, we ended up at an abandoned, antique, dam and power-plant.
My kudos to you today is this: when your expectations don't turn out as planned, allow yourself to be "ok" in the moment. Remember that life is a journey not a competition or list of banner achievements. We can choose to be real or fake. We can stretch the truth to make ourselves look better than we are and live in a menagerie of our own photo-shopped pictures, or we can be at peace with the deadness, delays, and disappointments. Reflecting on the situation now, I learned something about a time in the history of SC where a live source of energy once flowed and was most-likely very much appreciated. I was grateful for the reminder of this place which appeared to be fake or fiction, but not so, it was a rainbow falls that has ended it's season in time.
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1
A small creek at the base of the spill-over, Rainbow Falls Road, South Carolina.
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