Flying
One life goal I have is to become a certified pilot. Since moving to the Quad Cities this summer, I have been up a few times. After each time I fly, I look forward to doing it again.
One aspect I love about flying is the peace and solitude of the whole thing. Up in the air, nothing else really matters. For the moment, all of the emotional baggage, struggles, and anxiety I have on the ground don’t matter. It is freeing.
There is something humbling about flying as well.
When I look out and see the snow-covered rooftops of neighborhoods and cul-de- sacs, I recognize that I am just one person. Contrary to what I may think sometimes, the world doesn’t revolve around me. When I look out to the see the clouds meet the horizon, I feel small in terms of the vastness of the universe. I am a speck in creation – here for only brief moment in time and gone the next.
And while I am having this inner eschatological crisis, I am reminded, too, of just how much God truly loves all of us.
God – the one who created planets, stars, and oceans – also created you and me. How cool is that? We matter to God and we matter to one another. How we treat one another, and our neighbors near and far, matters. Sometimes, without even realizing it, one simple interaction with someone has the ability to change a life, and that life can change another life, and so on and so on. No act of kindness is too small, and no gesture of gratitude is too minute.
So the next time you travel – whether by plane, train, or automobile – and pass over or by neighborhoods of all sorts, think about how your life may make a difference in theirs. May God continue to bless us throughout 2018, and give us moments where we begin to understand that we are all in this together.
