Another trip to the airport?

I spent about 24 hours trying to get to Denver on stand-by after the big Colorado snow storm last week. Realizing I might spend my entire 5 days off at the airport, we gave up and went home and we were able to reschedule our trip for this coming weekend. Now we are arranging our rides back to the airport on Friday to fly out.

In our time before we get to Africa, Ron and I want to get all we can from each situation we are in. This is a time of preparation, and find ourselves asking 'what are we supposed to learn here and what are we supposed to do'. My airport experience was one of those times and the fact that it turned out to be interesting was a surprise to me.

So, what was I supposed to do? What came to mind was relax, be kind, listen, smile, wait! I started to think about those things and felt a peace come over me. Then as I listened to frustrations, sharp words, and assumptions I remembered a recent learning on peacemaking. I am an introvert and do not normally get into discussions with people I don't know but felt led to talk. I was relaxed and comfortable and was interested to see people soften and agree that it was hard to really make judgements because so much of the decision making was beyond what we knew about and even the airline staff were in a terrible situation and probably tired and dealing with their own issues.

So, what was I supposed to learn? Patience is something I will need to take with me to Africa, patience with situations and patience with people, so practice it. We are not only to enjoy God's peace but we are to be active instruments of peace.

The airport is not such a bad place. And back we go for another try to see our kids for a deferred Christmas celebration. I am trying not to think about the forecast which is for snow in Denver come Thursday/Friday!!