Your Flight Has Been Delayed...

As I type this post, I sit at gate 5 in an airport in Knoxville Tennessee. My flight was originally scheduled to depart in 3 minutes. I have a connecting flight in Atlanta. Our plane is not here. It won't be for a while. I will miss my connecting flight. (think traveling is glamorous?)

Here are my options:

OPTION 1: Rant. Rave. Demand my original schedule. Complain about how hard this is making my life. Yell at the nice lady behind the counter. Run my fingers feverishly through my hair (which I don't even have). Huff and puff. Pace. Stomp my feet. Glare at everyone. Roll my eyes.

OPTION 2: Breathe slowly and evenly. Abandon my original schedule. Smile at the nice lady behind the counter. Speak slowly. Plan for the next trajectory in my path. Make a couple calls to inform the others who are impacted by my lateness.

I survey the Gate-5 area. There are about 32 individuals. Some male. Some female. Some tall. Some short. Some opting for OPTION 1. Some finding their comfort in OPTION 2.

I gotta tell you, those who opt for OPTION 1 are quite interesting. My mind wanders to their home life. Their future. Are they hard to live with? Do they turn people off? Will they die early with a heart condition, high blood pressure? TO the contrary, those opting for OPTION 2 seem happier about life in general. They look as though their mind immediately shifted to "plan B".

I've sat back down now. I've talked to the nice lacy behind the counter. Got a new flight plan to get me back to Pittsburgh. Still have an inch of Starbuck's Verona left to sip. Listening to John Mayer in my ear buds ("Waiting For The World To Change" - irony?). I've chosen OPTION 2 (I wish I could say that for every change I face). Here are a few of my thoughts as I sit here:

>>> Unexpected change is like a neon yellow highlighter swiping across a person's soul. Change brings out what's inside. If there is no peace, ugly emerges. If there is peace, beauty emerges.

>>> Unexpected change is like a gift-wrapped package. Some people take it and throw it away without opening it. Others open it and find the gift of opportunity.

My unexpected change happened in an airport in Knoxville on a Friday morning in late June. When your next unexpected change happens, what's your response going to be?

image credit

Comments

[Tom Pierce]

Scott - The thing about your approach to change that I find so amazing is how smooth you are on the clutch pedal. You clearly find great purpose and benefit in making and having plans, yet you never seem enslaved to your own expectations. You release old plans and embrace new ones with grace and ease that is marvelously fluid, refreshingly humble, and relentlessly hopeful. When you swing and miss, you shake the dust off your feet, regain your balance and your quiet focus, and prepare to swing again.
You give remarkable light to the teaching that the sabbath was made for us, and not us for the sabbath.

[Scott Couchenour]

Tom, thank you for stopping by and commenting. But I must say you are way too kind. I wish I had it close to how you describe it. God is very gracious to me. I look to Him for my strength and guidance. But I wish I did it more consistently. Thank you for your incredible encouragement!