Partly Cloudy

I was flying home from a short business trip and had the bad luck to have a window seat due to the last-minute nature of my trip. I am usually an aisle seat person but it was a short flight, and really; what were my options? I settled in and before long we were airborne heading from wherever I was, back home.

The reason I don’t usually have a window seat is two-fold. One, I like the option to stretch out in the aisle and two, I am really not a big fan of flying and for some reason I like to be away from the window. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t panic so you could see it, but I don’t understand the science of flying, therefore I can talk myself into an unreasonable belief that this whole concept is flawed in some way. That there is some big mistake and as soon as we realize it, things will come to a crashing halt.

Now, I know this is not the case, but we’ve all had our minds tell us something that we know is real, is not. This just happens to be my thing.

So I shut my window shade and time passes. I’m calmly reading a book and having a very uneventful trip, but it’s a short flight and soon the pilot announces that we’re beginning our descent and we’ll need to prepare for landing, which includes opening our window shades. I glance out my window and the plane gracefully coasts toward our destination, as we slowly and deliberately progress into a layer of clouds.

iercing through the cloud cover, I force myself to continue to look, pushing myself to face the opaque mist that we must now travel though. Considering my lack of knowledge about how a plane can stay in the air, this is where my fears can take over if I let them. How can the pilot see through this? Do we know where we’re going? How long will this turbulence last? While I process these thoughts, we exit the cloud and I can see again. Then, to my dismay, we enter another cloud and the mild turbulence begins again.

Glaring into the darkness during this evening flight, I become aware of the parallel between this flight and my own life. Turbulence comes and goes, clouds may roll in and we feel blinded for a short time-- unclear if we are maintaining the course we intended.

What if we spent more time learning about this life we are leading? We may feel like we know our ultimate destination, but if we endeavor to discover how we’re supposed to get there, our fears will slowly evaporate. For me, this lesson speaks to my faith; maybe that’s the lesson of this partly cloudy day.

As I consider this thought, the plane exits the cloud and I am welcomed by a beautiful sunset, and I know that this truly was the lesson for me today, for I am home.