Meant to Fly

Look for airport signs. Follow signs. Find economy lot. Park car. Look for shuttle. Indicate airlines. Identify gate. Wait in TSA. Pull up AppleWallet. Self-scan ticket. Remove toiletries, laptop, shoes, and jacket. Enter scanner. Wide stance, raised arms. Collect belongings. Scout shop and restroom locations. Find gate. Choose seat by outlet. Wait for boarding.

I’m on my way to PHX to visit Baby Jordan. The time from my house to my gate was so abnormally uneventful that it actually gave me time to pause. I live about seven minutes from the airport (backroads!). OMA is such a cute, little international airport that it’s so easy to get from the economy lot to the TSA line. What made it even easier this time was an open parking spot as soon as I entered the lot and a shuttle bus waiting right for me. I was the only one on the bus. And even the only one in the TSA line. Even the most thorough pat down I’ve ever experienced in all my travels (butt and inner-thigh swipe and all), no additional time was added. The most easiest of travel days (8:15pm flight so had an entire day. But didn’t have much to do with that day because I got all my cleaning and laundry done yesterday) and I still have a full 120 minutes before I board.

So in this opportunity for contemplation, I almost chuckle at how easy travel is for me. I’ve done it so much I could do it on autopilot! What squeezes my heart though is why I’ve practically got it down to a science: God’s grace.

From childhood (maybe because I lived on an island)  I had more opportunities to fly than probably the next person. The requirements continued through college holidays and breaks when I had to fly home. Although the few years after college consisted of primarily road trips, it was still travel. It didn’t take long for me to resume air travel though, once I moved abroad, and now since relocating to OMA.

Just in the last year I’ve flown from LIH to SLC. SLC to MSP. MSP back to SLC. Road trip from Vineyard to Rexburg. Road trip from Vineyard to OMA. Road trip from OMA to MSP. Flew back to MSP. OMA to LAX. OMA to PHX. Road trip back to MSP. And once again, OMA to PHX.

(Not to mention the hopeful-itineraries in the next few months that include SLC, Pennsylvania, JFK, and LAX/SLC.)

What’s my point? God is kind. As I have tried to submit to His timing and His will, He has blessed me a hundred fold! I was actually just thinking about this this morning. My thoughts these last couple of months have turned towards motherhood but especially childbearing in the last couple of weeks—I don’t feel like it’s too far distant. I was thinking about how insanely blessed I’ve been, with all the things I’ve been able to see and experience AND I’ll still get to have what I’ve wanted most: a family.

What would have happened if I started my family in college? I probably wouldn’t have lived with a Muslim family, tried to start my own business, experience Asia, and buy a downtown condo. I’m not sure if Heavenly Father wanted these experiences for me or if it’s gifts of compensations.

But I do know that He wanted me to learn to trust His Son. I know He wanted me to learn that He has so much more in store for us than we can comprehend. I know that He wanted me to learn how to work for it and faith for it.  I know that He wanted me to learn that when things don’t work out the way I want them to His Son can consecrate and compensate.

I’m so so so so thankful for the time He’s given me to learn, to become. And I’m so grateful for the time I have now to fly!