Few places leave me with a perma-smile. Airports are wonderful. It’s easy to get caught up in the buzz all around, coffee’s faithful scent to those gleefully addicted, and the anticipation of something new or at least a trip worth repeating. I love traveling. The first airplane ride I remember well was when I was 9 years old. My dad had won two round trip tickets to Europe at a golf outing and my mom lived in France for a brief time during college. A financial commitment for my parents employed at a small Christian school yet they made the epic trip happen and I’ve been hooked ever since. Most notable trips on my own include Turkey, Nigeria, Honduras, and India. As cliche as it may sound it’s not about the final destination. I enjoy the journey.
Today as I walked leisurely through O’Hare for my next flight I smiled the entire way from gates G to K. People yawning, an elderly woman questionably alive, and crying kids just makes the experience a wee bit richer. Once comfortably relaxing in my gate chair I naturally, as anyone baptized in the Christian tradition would, thought about traveling through this known world to our final destination. Some days I really do long for heaven. I don’t love teaching my kids about addiction and questionable decisions when the car sets fire in front of my house. I want to retreat when my family is picked on or I witness the pain in my neighbors and the strain on relationships awry. Still I’m torn.
When I graduated seminary I was given one of my favorite gifts by a family I will forever cherish. It was a print by artist Brian Andreas. The caption reads, “She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short.” Amen. Rather than allowing the weight of all things heavy and troublesome press my gaze downward on the dark, the evil, the brokenness I am challenged to lift my head up.
Colossians 3:2, "I fix my eyes on things above, not on earthly things." And yet…
And yet while I look forward to the final destination and keep my eyes transfixed above I am resolved to discover the glory of God that fills the earth and appreciate His creation and created beings for as long as I have breath. I suppose my true challenge is good posture. Standing tall knowing Good wins while remaining present determined to find His presence and fingerprints everywhere I look. May this place, this time, this day, regardless of where I find myself bring a perma-smile. This is the day the Lord has made…and the world…and the people…and the weather…and the crops…and the colors…and the flavors…and the sounds…