Thoughts on Flying

"caught up in the clouds"

1 Thessalonians 4:17

I spent a long day flying home from Thanksgiving vacation this week, with the Apple of my Eye, and our Amazing and Awesome kids.   Flying gives one a lot of time to sit and stare into space ~ literally.  So here are some of the things I thought about:

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I just cannot bring myself to "recline" my seat that three inches.  It just seems like the little comfort that is going to bring me, is at the cost of the discomfort of the person behind me.  So if you're ever on a plane with me, you might want the seat directly behind me.

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As I sat in the airport waiting, I could hear phone conversations around me.  People with time to waste, after having gone through security, now waiting to board.  So they check in with family ~ either one last "goodbye," to the people they are leaving; or a "see you soon" for the ones they are coming to.  And almost every one of those conversations ended with "I love you".  My conclusion?  Everyone loves someone.  That's nice.

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Cell phones?  They're nice, too.

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I also saw more than one grown-up "child" who had seen their elderly parents all the way to the gate.  In both cases one of the parents was in a wheelchair.  I didn't know anyone was allowed to come all the way to the gate unless they were boarding the plane.  Maybe the airlines make an exception for wheelchair passengers.  But there's something so beautiful about grown children watching over and caring for their parents, as their parents once did for them.  "Good-bye Mom.  See you soon," they say, hoping they will.

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Airports make me want to cry.  Airports are places of beginnings and endings; of joy and sorrow; of "until next time" and "I might never see you again."  There are tears of happiness, and tears of sadness, I have a strict rule that no one cries alone in my presence {name that movie!} so I tear up, too.

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By and large, airport employees are amazing.  A largely thankless job; probably tiring, too.  Air travel used to be for the wealthy.  So they were treated appropriately.  "Yes, Sir" and "As you wish, Ma'am."  Now, it's hard not to feel like cattle, herded from one spot to the next.  From check-in, to security, to the gate, to the line to board, to your seat.  Then back down the jetway, moo-ing along to the baggage claim.  Then, to your form of transportation, where you might even have to wait in another line, for a shuttle, or a taxi.   Even if you are wealthy, that doesn't mean you can skip those steps.  None of that is the fault of the airline or airport employees, but I'm sure they are often made to feel like the bad guy.  And yet I've gotten more pleasantries out of airline and TSA employees than I have from my local grocery store clerk.

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The view of earth, from above, is unlike any other.  Since very few of us will ever get to see it from space, other than in pictures, we have to content ourselves with looking out the airplane window.  And sometimes that view is amazing.

A river, from above, as the sun is getting ready to set, shines yellow and glistening as it snakes its way across the land.

A mountain, which rises to glorious heights from the perspective of earth; an extreme of topography, becomes merely a beautiful wrinkle in the fabric of earth.  Still clearly jagged, and fiercely different from the land that surrounds them, they provide much-needed perspective to the ground below. 

A sunset, seen from the air, is unlike anything else.  Deep, deep blue at the top, gradually becoming bright yellow at the bottom.  It's a rainbow of color, in its own way.  The other day, I saw the sunset from the sky at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  It was beautiful.  Then I landed, and two hours later I saw the sunset on earth.  It was beautiful again.  How many times can we say we've seen sunset twice in one day?  I felt like I'd gotten a glimpse into the future.

Or sometimes all we can see is clouds.  A blanket of clouds ~ which really does look like a blanket ~ obscuring the earth and making us feel we are far more than just a few miles above the earth.  A few miles above earth, and a few miles closer to Him.

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~ "The Lord Himself 

will descend from heaven with a shout, 

with the voice of an archangel, 

and with the trumpet of God.  

And the dead in Christ will rise first.  

Then we who are alive and remain 

shall be caught up together in the clouds 

to meet the Lord in the air.  

And thus we shall always be with the Lord." ~

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17