Ok, so in my last post I told you all we were sitting in the airport and I was doing one of my favorite things: people watching. As the day wore on, and it was one of the LONGEST days I have had in a while, and the more I watched and talked to people I was hit with how ungrateful we are as a collective group. Let me tell you a little about our schedule yesterday and some of the things that happened and it will give you some idea of what I mean.
We were originally scheduled to leave the Asheville airport at 11:07. Then about two or three weeks ago that time got pushed to 11:40. Now I haven’t flown since 1997, so I was more than a little apprehensive and anxious to get to the airport early. I have been enthralled by tales of woe at the hands of airport security and I did not want to be the victim of last-minute anxiety manifesting itself in the form of me losing my temper and taking it out on my choice of innocent victim (namely my husband).
Needless to say I made sure we were early enough to where even I wasn’t worried we were going to be late. When we first arrived to check in things were deceptively normal. Our flight was on time and we could go relax, I could blog, we could watch people and get to our destination of San Antonio early. Not long after we were seated in the gate area our flight became delayed to 11:51. I thought to myself, “No big deal, what’s 11 minutes.” Not so long after that, “Mr. Delta”, with some chagrin, announced that there was a slight problem with our flight and we wouldn’t be leaving until 1:20. Well, you can imagine our excitement. :-( We were instructed to have a seat and we would be called by name to the kiosk to discuss our connecting flight changes. Barry and I got a call from Delta on our cell phones updating us on our changes. We were told we would be leaving at 2:06 and arriving at 3:13. I don’t remember the actual time that we ended up on the plane, but we never actually got to speak with the rep at the kiosk. He was also unable to help us with our seating from Atlanta to San Antonio, we were going to have to address that when we arrived in Atlanta. So, we got on the plane and I can tell you at that point I wasn’t too nervous, but I wasn’t perfectly calm either. We got ready to taxi away from the gate and the pilot informed us that we were going to need to add fuel to the plane due to some storms in Atlanta and perhaps needing to be in the air longer than usual. So after about 20 minutes we taxied out to the runway and stopped. We were then informed that due to storms in the Atlanta area there was a ground-stop in place and we would be delaying for another 45 minutes, and because burning jet fuel and waiting was not an option we would be going back to the gate and waiting in the lobby.
We finally got back on the plane and lifted off a little after 4:00 pm. Let me just share that at this point, my nerves were shot, my anxiety was high and I was more than a little unhappy that we were still hours away from the hotel room in San Antonio. As we lifted off and my chest rattled with the vibrations of the two propeller engines and we were bounced around by storm clouds I vowed that I would never ride on such a small plane again… I know that saying I’m never going to do something again is really not a good idea. God often shows us that we don’t always get what we want. I sat there and prayed for over half the flight. It took me that long to let go and let God, if you know what I mean. I know the Bible says, “Be anxious for nothing and instead pray about everything.” Unfortunately for me, I was anxious and praying…
We landed in Atlanta and had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and then back into the air we were again. Now along the way I had a chance to talk to three different gentlemen about their flights and how their day was going and in all of those conversations the men were seemingly somewhat upset over the state of their flight plans. They all three used curse words in what I would consider a casual conversation. I was more than a little taken aback at the casual way the men seemed to feel comfortable using words that make me decidedly uncomfortable. It made me begin to think about what God must feel when he hears the words fall from our lips. In Matthew 12:34 we see: “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” What does the kind of attitude that these men displayed towards their circumstances and their choice of words say about the condition of their hearts? When we gripe and complain about flights being delayed or not enough selection at the airport cafe or that we have to ride on an airplane with noisy children… what is the condition of our hearts? I know that these things may seem trivial, but if our words show the overflow of our heart, then what is the true condition of our heart? Is our heart full of love and gratitude that even though our plane might be late it didn’t crash with us on it . . . or are we grateful that the cafe had something, anything, that we could eat . . . are we thankful that God chose to give life to the screaming kid two rows back?
I think it is high time that we look around at our world and see how truly blessed we are. We have planes to get us from city to city. We have plenty of food to eat, even if it might not be exactly what we want. We have the next generation to mentor and guide. We have a responsibility to focus on God’s blessings rather than our perceived injustices and in doing so maybe our hearts will be filled with patience, love, understanding and compassion. If we chose to look at the world with God eyes what then would our word choices show?
Recent Comments