The Window Seat

I have been flying several times a year since I was 11 years old.  As a child, I always wanted the window seat, for obvious reasons; as a young adult I determined that I was far too jaded by the window seat and opted for the aisle.  Lately, I am back at the window.

There are a number of reasons for this - I am small, so the extra room in the aisle isn't really necessary.  I can stand to full height under the "fasten seat belts sign" and only my big hair touches the ceiling.  Conversely, I find the aisle annoying; large people tend to buy aisle seats and I have spent more than one flight with a behemoth's knees in my back.  People use the top of your aisle seat as their personal walking stick while making their way through the aisle all the while affording you a lovely view of their rear ends as they brush up against you.  Let us also not forget those who feel perfectly justified using the top of your seat to boost their weight out of their seats.  Several months ago, I suffered one of the worst flights of my life and was a simmering powder keg mean thoughts toward all who continued to knee, rattle, and lean into me with a drool and a snore.

So I am back to the window, where the construction of the plane affords you leaning room and a head rest for a pillow; where you have control over whether the shades are pulled on the windows or not, and where no one uses the back of your chair as a lift.  While my move back to the window was done for all the above reasons I have once again discovered the wonder of the world outside.

Peering out the window last evening, I was in awe of God's creation below.  The beauty and the vast landscape of the earth.  The lights from the houses and the cars all representing people whom God knows everything about, down to the number of hairs on their heads.  The landscape lit up in twinkling colors like a large outdoor display of Christmas lights, those lights representing progress and comfort, and beauty.  Cars and planes moving safely transporting people over large distances connecting them to work, family, and a higher standard of living.  Some would look up on the earth and wish for darkness and cars that are parked and planes that don't fly.  Their misguided hearts and beliefs tell them these good things are actually bad.  They have become lovers of darkness.

So, I sit in my window seat, marvel at the world below and bow my head; once again discovering the smallness of my own being, but resting in the vastness of His.

The Night Sky

(Credit: NASA/GSFC, Craig Mayhew & Robert Simmon)