Economy in the Air Means a Tight Squeeze in Tiny Seats

Ed, my neighbor next door, never lacks a ready curiosity. Arriving home from our trip to a family wedding in Ontario, Ed had a few questions to get answered. I always know the questions will be where, why and what with Ed. He first asks where and why and always what the trip cost us.

Ed believes that when we are traveling to attend a wedding, it is a waste of our time and money. Ed claims that, unless it is your own wedding or the wedding of your child, you should stay home. Travel destinations should never be half way across the nation for any reason.

I would never admit to Ed that travel is not always a pleasure. In Toronto, it seemed like we would never get our rental car back to the folks at Budget. Pearson Airport, Terminal 1 car rental return, took several tries to pin point. I prefer a dust storm to a big city like Toronto. Such cities are designed to test the patience of both saints and sinners.

Flying from Toronto to Winnipeg on Air Canada Economy Tango, was pleasant, but flying from Winnipeg to Regina on a smaller Economy Jazz, was grim. There were two seats in each row on each side of the plane but, the two seats were only large enough for one person. I had the aisle seat, and the flight attendant smacked into me every time she went by me. Other passengers going to and from the washroom also beat on me. Worst of all was the turbulence at 34,000 feet from headwinds for most of the flight. The wind was bumping the plane around in a game of bumper cars, which got old really fast. My wife had no patience with me and told me forcefully to stop whining about the flight and to grow up.

Even at sixty-eight, growing up is hard to do. Would you agree that the more you look for improvement in others the less likely you are to find it? It might seem obvious when looking at the behavior of others that they need to shape up, but most of us know it is not easy to change ourselves. How many of us can instantly change ourselves, and do everything right to please others?

Jesus told his disciples that they needed to pay attention to themselves. He instructed them with these words; “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

The disciples hearing what Jesus expected of them said to Jesus. “Increase our faith.” How difficult to forgive someone once, twice or three times in a day. When someone says sorry, we expect him to be so sorry that he stops offending us. Who is able to keep forgiving the same person repeatedly in a single day, even when, he repeatedly says, “I’m sorry?” Jesus reminded his disciples that even a tiny bit of faith in God will enable them to forgive as many times as needed each day. God is able to make our faith more than enough to be his faithful servants.

 

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