I’m writing this right now from an airport, sitting at a gate waiting for my flight.
Here’s a fun fact about me: I LOVE airports.
I flew for the first time when I was in fifth grade (it was actually an unfortunate incident that ended with me getting a stomach bug and puking all over a stranger, and a friend making up a rumor my plane had crashed when I didn’t show up at school the next day) and I’ve loved flying ever since. I love the mass of people and sipping coffee and watching planes take off and land from the window. To me, the delays and cancellations and terrible circumstances are just side effects.
I also think life is sometimes a little like an airport, especially when we’re talking about and thinking about the future.
Like airports, the future can be scary and overwhelming.
In registering for new classes and having to buy a new car and a semester that has felt like a halted and perpetual waiting game, I’ve found myself stressing and worrying about the future more than usual recently. I talked on the blog a month ago about the fact that fear is the result of a lack of trust in God being who he says he is, and the same thing applies to fearing even the big monstrosity that is the future.
Our times of waiting feel a little like I do right now in an airport, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, watching everyone around you hustling and bustling seemingly effortlessly to their destination, while you sit puzzled and frustrated.
I don’t have a lot to say today (mostly because I’m running on five hours of sleep), but here’s what I do have for you.
You will get to your destination.
That’s the purpose of airports, to get you where you need to go. But sometimes there are delays or unforeseeable circumstances, as you know too well if you’ve ever flown before. I remember one time when trying to get home to Dallas, I had a flight that was so delayed I had to instead get on a plane going to Houston, and then take a connecting one home.
I remember feeling overwhelmed and confused at that time. Sometimes, the future has unexpected twists and turns.
What’s my point with this? In the same way that you’re not going to be in an airport forever, you’re not going to be in this season of waiting forever. I won’t promise you that you’ll get to a point in your life where you suddenly have it all together and never have to wait on the Lord, because I think part of our human condition is learning to sit at our Father’s feet and wait for Him to move. But you won’t always be wondering and waiting for that job or a good community of believers or an answer to a hard thing.
You won’t always be stuck in this. exact. moment. You will, one way or another, figure out what you’re doing this summer. You will find healing from the pain weighing heavy on your heart. You will either lose that friend or relationship, or you won’t.
I can’t tell the future, and I can’t guarantee hardships won’t come your way, but I can give you hope that you are not the one writing your story.
Similarly, you have no control over when your flight leaves or whether or not a blizzard or rainstorm will shut down the airport, you’re not really that in control of your life. God is.
I’ll say it again. You will get to your destination. I don’t know when. I don’t know what delays or hurdles are standing in the way, but I do know none of them are bigger than God.