A LITTLE GIRL WITH WINGS

Every once in a while, when you travel, you experience moments like this (actually they happen more often these days). We were in the airport getting ready to board our flight. The previous flight had arrived late. Everyone in the terminal watched as the passengers disembarked and looked miserable. Many of them were running to catch their connecting flights. They were hot and tired. No one was smiling. One man started to yell at another passenger who, as we determined through the yelling, had stepped in front of him when they were leaving the plane…like “road rage” without the cars. 

The mood of those disembarking passengers added to the stress of those of us needing to board so that we didn’t miss OUR connecting flights. Traveling, and especially dealing with airports, seems to be filled with more stress than ever before…and personally, my least favorite part of any trip. As with this moment, the mood of those around seeps into your skin, your brain, your heart…and soon YOU are being slowly dragged down into the deep and murky water of a dark mood. 

I finally got onboard. I sat in my seat by the window (so that I can lean on the sidewall panel and sleep). I was in the EXIT ROW, so I needed to stay awake long enough to hear the Flight Attendant give us in the Exit Row the “Exit Row Speech” and agree to the responsibilities. So I watched as one-by-one people came in. I could “read” their faces and actions to see that we had all been affected by the heat, the crowded terminal and now plane, the stress of not leaving on time, and the impatience with other people…who seemed to go out of their ways to irritate those of us who are “practically perfect in every way”. 

Just a few feet away from my seat, in the line of people finding their way to seats, was a young couple with two little girls. The girls had on sparkly “mouse ears” and each carried a small, pink, carry-on covered with cartoon characters and sequins.

The youngest of the girls wasn’t talking, but she was smiling and giving little, shy, waves to everyone she was passing…I imagined this was probably her first flight. Her sister, on the other hand, was not silent. She was speaking to every person she passed, in their seats, as if she knew them. She knew no strangers, as she explained that they were going to Disneyworld. She was excited to see “Ariel” and “Jasmine” (I was old enough to not really know who they were) and she was sad her Aunt Lily couldn’t go because she was having surgery, but her cousins Jacob and TJ were going to meet them there from Kansas because their Grandma & Grandpa lived in Florida…Grandpa couldn’t walk, but they were going to push him in a chair. This wasn’t HER grandpa, HER grandpa could walk and lived in California.

Yes, I gained all of this information in the seconds as she passed my row. Her mother, as they passed, said to anyone, and no one in particular, “Give her five minutes and you’ll know our business.”

And then, a remarkable…I would say “borderline miracle” happened: there were chuckles, smiles, nods, and even a few responses to this little, nameless, angel. And just like that, the “clouds lifted”, the light became brighter, the seats became more comfortable…and things were put into perspective. 

It took one little, talkative, oversharing, girl to flavor the entire bowl of bad moods and feelings to something completely different…just one girl, in one moment. 

Before I reached the unconscious state I usually reach before we even take off (yes, I’m one of those people who find it difficult to stay awake on a plane) I smiled and thought of…

… Matthew 5:13-16: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men. You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”…

…how little it took, just a “mustard-seed-sized” amount of light or salt, to change the “flavor” of the moment. It doesn’t take a degree, a talent, a special moment, experience, or even language to do what Jesus says we are all capable of doing: being salt & light.

Everywhere we go, every person we meet, every moment we experience, could be changed by just a little of what we carry around and hoard most times: love we have received from God, love that we have enough of to share. It’s a smile, it’s joy…and kids know how to do it…that’s why Jesus showed us that kids are the model for Kingdom Citizens.

The angel was a little girl, she was a messenger from God (if only to me, so that I could remember this moment and write it down for you)…the lesson to me is this, Jesus Himself tells us:

we are SALT, to make the moment tastier

we are LIGHT, to dispel shadows

we are LOVE, which makes the world go ‘round.