Never ask God to teach you patience or presence. If you do, get ready for the lessons.  You’ve heard the one about the person who prays to God, “God, please give me patience. And do it right now!”  

Sunday, I planned to write about being present. Learning to “be here now” – not pulled into the past/future or distracted. Presence is a great gift to ourselves, to others and God. Riding to the airport, thinking about presence, I realized that patience is one of my biggest obstacles to presence (and to the other fruit of the spirit). When I get impatient, I lose the ability to be here. Perhaps I need to blog about patience, I thought and I asked God to help me with patience and presence. That’s when the lessons started.

We were already running late and I was a bit on edge. I got an email; my flight was delayed. Good news, right? Then, I left the present moment: What about my connection? (future) What time was I connecting? (future) I knew I should have printed the itinerary. (past) Why is the flight delayed? (out of my control, nothing; not present). The spiral started picked up steam: anxiety, self-admonishment, lack of presence and patience as my inner accusations piled on. (all past and future, not present reality)

Got to the airport with an hour to go but no boarding pass. The kiosks wouldn’t work. The Rep said, “Get in that line” That LONG line, but my flight leaves in an hour … Why am I in the full-service line instead of the international travel line? That line appears to be going faster! Why couldn’t they make the kiosk work? What’s with those two Reps with no customers? When are they going to open more lines? Do they know what I paid for this ticket …
 No presence, no patience, no fingernails, no peace, no prayer and certainly no good example for my neighbors. 

We boarded the flight and 30 minutes later were asked to deplane – a “weather hold.” The new boarding time would make me miss my overnight flight connection. I talked with both airlines. No help, no options, no hope and it seemed, no real concern – “not my problem.”

We re-boarded early, a chance I could just make the connection, maybe. I was reflecting back on my thoughts and behaviors and how far they were from where I wanted them to be. I had wasted so many precious presents – those gifts of life, moments my impatience and anxiety had dismissed and ignored.

We landed and I asked the flight attendant to ask folks to allow tight connections to get off first. She wouldn’t make that announcement because “It’s bad weather, all the flights will be delayed.” Twenty minutes later, leaving the plane, I asked the gate agent to notify their partner airline that I was running. “They won’t listen to me” she said and didn’t make the call. I ran with two bags and arrived at the gate in the other terminal 4 minutes after the flight left.

Hotel rooms were booking up fast, the rain started harder, I needed to book another flight. Instead, I ordered McDonalds and called Annie. We talked for an hour as I ate a salad. Present, loved, and loving every minute of it. Today I didn’t notice the delays on the way back to the airport. I was typing this blog.
Read Philippians 4: 4-9, and remember: God loves you UNCONDITIONALLY every moment of every day. 

Mike 

Today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A+4-9&version=NRSV