Have you ever had your plans change? Have you looked forward to something only for that event to be changed or cancelled? How about travel plans impacted by weather? We recently went to Ohio and Pennsylvania to visit our families over the Christmas holiday. We had our son Ben, our daughter Rachel, and her daughter, our granddaughter, Leah with us. Leah is 16 months, and this was her first airplane ride.
We had a couple of experiences with disruptions or changes in plans. When these things happen, it is normal to get discouraged and maybe sad when things we were expecting don’t turn out exactly as we have planned. But in the midst of a couple of our challenges, God also gave me a lesson: enjoy the moment.
Life is full of moments and how often moments can fly by unnoticed because we are focused on things in the future or things that have happened in the past. No wonder Jesus encourages us not to be anxious about our lives but to seek Him (Matt 6:26-33). One of the things I have been working on over the past several months is to enjoy each moment as a gift from God and to think of Him as often as I can throughout the day. I was able to put this to good use a couple of times on our trip up north.
Lost Luggage!
Is there anything more disappointing to start your trip than to get to the baggage area only to find your luggage missing? That happened to us in Cleveland. We noticed a bag that looked a lot like ours but was not. I talked to a representative with United who called the person who owned that bag and they had our bag! So we had to wait for a while before our bag arrived. I enjoyed a couple of moments while waiting. Did you know that Superman was invented in Cleveland? I enjoyed this exhibit while we waited.
I also enjoyed walking around the baggage area with Leah. There is nothing like being with a child to help you experience a moment! It was fun to see her walking around and how people interacted with her. I was also very appreciative of the United representatives. They were extremely helpful. They said this was the third bag that day that was taken by mistake. They have a hard job dealing with unhappy travelers.
Moments of Blessing
Other than the lost baggage, most of our trip was awesome spending time with my sisters family in Copley, Oh and the my wife’s family in State College, PA. Here are a few highlights from the trip.
Cancelled Flight!!
We planned to return to Houston on Christmas Eve afternoon. We got to the airport in Pittsburgh and checked our bags. Everything was going smoothly. We had lunch at Friday’s, which is our family tradition every year before we fly home. We then got this picture at the huge tree in the airport lobby.
So far so good. We got the gate and then noticed a sign that said “cancelled”. So I got up and started to walk toward the gate agent to ask about the flight and I noticed a huge line of people who were apparently asking the same question.
Now what? Its Christmas Eve, and our flight has been cancelled. I had a flashback to the movie Home Alone when the Mom was stuck on Christmas Eve in France and couldn’t get a plane ride home. I contemplated hitching a ride with a Polka band but thought better of it!
My mind immediately began looking to the future, thinking where would we stay, would there even be a flight tomorrow? Will we run out of diapers? Fortunately United opened up a flight later in the evening at 9:00. So we know we had a plan, but still we had several hours to wait. What would we do? We enjoyed the moment as best as we could. Again, Leah was a great help.
We found a playground where Leah met some new friends. We also spend a lot of time with Leah on the moving sidewalks. She loved riding on them over and over again.
Our delay extended a little longer as they re-routed planes but finally boarded the plane around 9:30. But we weren’t quite done with delays yet. The pilot made an announcement that they were calling maintenence because of an issue with smoke detectors. Fortunately that didnt take too long. Then as we began to pull away from the gate, the pilot announced we had to make a quick stop to get the wings de-iced because the temperatures had fallen as we had been waiting.
But we finally made it! By the time we dropped everyone off and made it back our our house in Katy, it was 2:30 Christmas morning. But we were thankful to be home and not stuck in the airport.
Practice
Its funny. I am enjoying reliving these moments and am filled with thanksgiving for the life I have and the family with which God has blessed me. However, I am also stressing a little. Part of the requirements for participating in the Renovaré Institute is writing 2 5-9 page papers. These are due at the end of January. One paper is focused on the books we have been reading and the other paper is focused on the monthly practices we have been doing. In reality, 5-9 pages is not terribly long, but I am beginning to look ahead and anticipate the work to put these together. It sounds great in theory, but can I really enjoy the moment while writing papers?
How do I practice being in the moment this next month? Here are some initial thoughts:
- Revisiting the memories of this Christmas trip. Counting our blessings is always a good strategy!
- Begin and end each day acknowledging them as a gift from God
- Throughout the day, pause for a few moments, take a deep breath and praise God for His goodness
- Be aware of those times when I begin to feel anxious, reflect on what is the cause, and turn it over to God in prayer
- Remind myself that being part of the Renovaré Institute is an honor and be grateful for the opportunity afforded me
- As I prepare and write, let go of perfectionism and enjoy all that God is teaching me through the readings and practices I have been doing
How about you? What do you do to help you enjoy the moment, even in the midst of a busy time? What suggestions would you have for me?
