This past weekend, my infant son and I took a trip to San Jose, California to attend the wedding of a very dear friend. I've traveled with my son many times before but never alone and never with so many obstacles as I did on this trip.
We left our house 3 ½ hours early to allow for traffic and a long line at the security checkpoint; there is no way to move through that process quickly with an infant and a stroller. Nevertheless, we made it to the gate two hours early. After waiting patiently, we were allowed to pre-board with first class.
We settled in with 30 minutes to spare before our takeoff time; an hour and a half later we finally moved on to the tarmac only to back up and return to the gate to sit another 30 minutes. It appeared that one crew member was a no show, eight standby customers needed their luggage transferred, a disabled woman needed a temporary wheelchair because hers wouldn’t fit down the aisle, and finally a sick person wanted off of the plane and wouldn’t leave without his luggage.
I’ll admit I was anxious; I had held off feeding my son for more than an hour, planning to feed him during takeoff to help his ears pop. As the minutes ticked on I became more and more agitated. Looking around at my fellow passengers, I was amazed at how vocal and rude people were and how even the flight attendants seemed to be working with their last nerve; tempers and attitudes on that plane were out of control and at one point I actually thought I might witness a case of air rage. As we taxied down the runway I looked around at the other passengers, at the couple in front of me who had given three angry notes to the flight attendant to pass to the captain, the man behind me who had been griping on the phone to someone in a very loud voice for the past half hour and at the woman across from me who was already drunk and talking loudly about the flight attendants to no one in particular. I looked down at my son, the little boy without a carry-on or checked baggage allowance, without a seat or even a boarding pass, a non-passenger who was two and a half hours past his dinner time, yet cooing and playing quietly with his link-a-doos, happy and content just to have the extra time playing with mommy. A non-existent passenger by the books yet the most patient of them all and I realized how much Jesus was actually saying:
We left our house 3 ½ hours early to allow for traffic and a long line at the security checkpoint; there is no way to move through that process quickly with an infant and a stroller. Nevertheless, we made it to the gate two hours early. After waiting patiently, we were allowed to pre-board with first class.
We settled in with 30 minutes to spare before our takeoff time; an hour and a half later we finally moved on to the tarmac only to back up and return to the gate to sit another 30 minutes. It appeared that one crew member was a no show, eight standby customers needed their luggage transferred, a disabled woman needed a temporary wheelchair because hers wouldn’t fit down the aisle, and finally a sick person wanted off of the plane and wouldn’t leave without his luggage.
I’ll admit I was anxious; I had held off feeding my son for more than an hour, planning to feed him during takeoff to help his ears pop. As the minutes ticked on I became more and more agitated. Looking around at my fellow passengers, I was amazed at how vocal and rude people were and how even the flight attendants seemed to be working with their last nerve; tempers and attitudes on that plane were out of control and at one point I actually thought I might witness a case of air rage. As we taxied down the runway I looked around at the other passengers, at the couple in front of me who had given three angry notes to the flight attendant to pass to the captain, the man behind me who had been griping on the phone to someone in a very loud voice for the past half hour and at the woman across from me who was already drunk and talking loudly about the flight attendants to no one in particular. I looked down at my son, the little boy without a carry-on or checked baggage allowance, without a seat or even a boarding pass, a non-passenger who was two and a half hours past his dinner time, yet cooing and playing quietly with his link-a-doos, happy and content just to have the extra time playing with mommy. A non-existent passenger by the books yet the most patient of them all and I realized how much Jesus was actually saying:
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:2-4
Matthew 18:2-4
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