This past Tuesday, I flew to Michigan which is where I am as I write this. I only fly Southwest, but after the past few weeks of press they have had, I was a bit nervous. Of course the flight itself was perfectly fine only a little turbulence, but that’s to be expected. It was the waiting before our flight that was terribly bumpy.
I got to the airport an hour and a half before my boarding time, and I got through security rather painlessly. It took 30 minutes to get from the front doors to my gate. I walked by the Starbucks chuckling on the inside at the people standing in the insanely long line but acknowledging that would be me soon enough. At the gate, I settled in to a seat and pulled out my book for the hour wait.

About 30 minutes later, a person comes over the loud speaker and says,  “The flight to Detroit has moved gates from C18 to C7. If you are flying to Detroit, please move gates ASAP.” Well, shoot. I have to hike it to make our boarding time. We got there, and I settled in for the 10 minute wait. Then someone else comes on the loud speaker, “Flight 1299 to Detroit is now delayed until 11, but we hope to get you on sooner than that.” Then again about 5 minutes later, “By now you may have gotten an email, flight 1299 is now delayed until 12:50. Please accept a voucher for your troubles.” Okay, that’s not terrible, at least it’s not cancelled, right? I just had to text Sam and let her know that I would be much later than anticipated. I bought lunch and continued reading.

I’d say one of my greater perks is that I don’t mind being patient in circumstances that I can’t change, so waiting for a flight is no problem. Some others do not have that gift. People were grouchy (guess they decided to pass on the Starbucks line, too) and irritated. I totally understand that, but c’mon y’all! They had to get a different plane for maintenance reasons! Wouldn’t you be on a good plane than one they just let go because they’d rather keep you on time? I don’t know about the other passengers, but I didn’t want to die on Tuesday!

I think one of the biggest issues we have today as a society is lack of patience. Did we not learn that a child? Did we not have to wait to have a popsicle? Did we not have to wait until we were taller to ride all the cool rides? I know we all have places to be, but we don’t have to be butts about it!

Slow down. Step back. Take a breather. Count to 10. Do something so that your anger doesn’t get the best of you. We are all better than the anger we feel. We are better than the fear that fuels the anger we feel.

This week, I want you to think about times when you get impatient. What are you feeling in those moments? How are you expressing those feelings? (hint hint it’s not with a middle finger or a honk!) I think we can all be reminded of how important it is to be patient in all circumstances. Sometimes, things are just out of our control. I get how frustrating that can be, because I love controlling everything. But, the world does not revolve me or you. 

Romans 12:12 reads “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” Let’s live that out this week — put the Bible into action. 

Peace, Michael