I have always held a certain amount of pride in being a flexible person. In any given situation there really is only a certain amount of control one can have so, I believe, being flexible is a creative and honorable response. Yesterday I had the opportunity to live out this value.

After church I headed to the airport for a quick President’s Weekend trip to visit our older son who is in college in Ohio and to celebrate my mother’s birthday who lives in a nearby town. I love airports. The hustle and bustle…the people headed to and from so many different places…..the calls for flights headed to places I’ve never been….the hellos and goodbyes that always draw me into their emotion…..I love it all. So I always go to the airport ready for a surprising time. Now I recognize that air travel in the last few years has become more tedious and less glamorous(if is ever was), but for me it still holds a thrill.

Yesterday it was clear that weather was causing problems across the system so I thought it was quite a miracle that I made it to the gate of my connecting flight in Chicago with time to spare. After that flight to Columbus became delayed, I settled in with a magazine and a cup of coffee to do the only thing I could…wait. The gift of waiting is that you get to observe. My heart opened to the mother whose toddler had had it with waiting and was exhausted yet continued to walk and walk until he had a meltdown. I remember a few times like that with our own boys. I was intrigued by the James Brown look-alike and his elegant traveling companion….who were they, musicians, celebrity-look-alikes?  I watched with wonder the grandfather traveling with his two grandsons who never took their coats and hats off through the two hour wait. Where the coats new? I marveled at his patient voice as he spoke with them and their obvious respect and love for him. There was the couple that was so much in love that I am not sure they knew there was a delay. And then there was the rabbi, eating bread from a plastic bag. My eyes bugged out when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hot pink cellphone.

If my plane had been on time, I would never have had the opportunity to observe these lives that only brushed by mine yesterday. Delays can sometimes be quite good when we look for the gifts in them.And now, I am praying for the flexibility to be patient with the fact that my luggage was lost. I’m glad I was wearing something comfortable and that I had the gift of seeing those incredible sights yesterday.

I am unsure whether or not I will have Internet access over the next couple of days but will write when I can.

Today may just be the day to practice flexibility……..