Walking The Airport In Easter

As I write this I am in transit on a business trip, waiting between flights in Minneapolis. To pass the time I took a walk around the airport. Sitting down and pondering how different my routine is today I was struck, at first with how I missed the trees, flowers, rocks, and streams I pass every day. Then I thought about my surroundings: I am sitting amongst millions of years of God’s work and creation. I am sitting on a seat made from plants and animals, there are carefully cut and polished rocks beside me. Hidden above and below is iron, limestone, aluminum and many other elements, minerals, and compounds.

Perfect? No. We don’t always use the resources God has provided prudently. We often don’t re-use them when we have finished. Sometimes we don’t even recognize what has been provided. (When looking at plastic how often do we remember the living, breathing, growing plants and animals that absorbed the energy from the sun, fixed carbon from the air, and reached a natural end to a God given life?)

We have used the resources God provides for many purposes. While surrounded by these creatures, plants and rocks from the past, both distant and near, families and individuals, couples and groups pass me. We come from all around the world; we leave for places both familiar and new.

For many of us this is a week both familiar and new just as the destinations my fellow travelers and I venture to. Sunday was Easter, the day we remember and relive the Resurrection of our Lord. I grew up celebrating Easter, so much is familiar. Each year we also encounter new people and new events, our lives include different births and deaths, joys and sorrows, all reminding us how our lives are constant voyages of discovery, change and growth.

Today I must remember to thank God for the familiar and the new, the ancient, the old, and the just arrived. Join me and raise joyful thanks for all God provides and does.