It was not a sight any air traveler wants to see when making connecting flights—a departure board lined out with canceled flights, including the flight you are supposed to catch! But I saw it a few weeks ago. And it was not a pretty picture.
I was headed to Kansas City, with a stop in Denver. And it happened to be a day Mr. Blizzard struck Northeastern Colorado leaving behind 6 – 12 inches of snow, shortly after I shuttled into the Denver airport one Saturday morning. Dozens of outbound flights were canceled, including mine.
I was grateful that United Airlines assigned me a seat on a plane that was scheduled to leave that evening, but with the uncertainty of the storm, there was no guarantee that flight would ever leave the ground.
I needed to get to Kansas City for a lecture.
All the travel-wisdom I had gained from 17 years of traveling kicked into high gear to figure a way out of the mess. Should I rent a car? Should I book a hotel room before they’re all reserved? Should I call my brother-in-law nearby? Should I contact other airlines, and on and on… Every alternate plan I conceived didn’t feel quite right, and perhaps a huge waste of time and effort.
With long hours to sit and wait while the storm passed, and not wanting to spend them fretting and worrying about what to do, I decided to trust divine Mind’s wisdom and foresight to get me to Kansas City on time. Not just a surface, “Yes, everything works out for good,” but a deep anchored trust and understanding that my itinerary was in God’s hands and would be okay no matter what the physical senses were reporting.
It took a bit of prayer to find my peace, but eventually all the tension and fear inside was replaced by a deep held conviction that my lecture work was in God’s hands, He knew the need, knew how to meet it, and wouldmeet it. There would be no loss of anything good. God governed the weather in His Kingdom, the plane traffic, my coming and going, and how everything fit together to accomplish a good purpose. I could trust the day to the divine care, and it would be perfect, whatever form it took.
“Peace, be still.”
With no more fear, I settled into a cubicle with my laptop, and had a very productive afternoon working on my Association address and treating patients. I didn’t monitor the weather outside. I figured God had that all under control, and my job was to stay productively occupied in the meantime, which I did.
Dozens more flights were canceled, but the one flight I was scheduled to take, and the only way I would get to Kansas City, remained posted as “On Time.” It seemed too good to be true and, at times, the suggestion that it was a mistake, or soon to be canceled too, loomed large. But I pushed those gloomy predictions out and trusted that God knew what He was doing. I stayed in a genuine state of peace and certainty that all was well.
And it was.
That plane did leave, and with me on it. It took an extra hour to get off the ground, but we made it safely, and every passenger on board sounded their gratitude with a loud burst of applause and whoops of joy when the wheels lifted up.
I don’t particularly want to repeat the experience, but I arrived in Kansas City late that night in a very healthy and happy state of mind. I was truly at peace feeling the presence of Christ. I was not ruffled or upset about the day. But grateful a plan appropriate to the need worked out.
“Peace, be still.”
That took a great deal of trusting in the Lord with your whole heart and leaning not unto your own understanding. Very inspiring.
Well now, isn’t this inspiring!
Having slept a night on the floor of the Denver airport before…I really appreciate this.
:-))
Thanks for sharing this, I loved how you trusted instead of fretted….prayed instead of fussing around with human ways and means. And such a productive day. I’ve always loved Mary Baker Eddy’s statement: “Be allied to the deific power and all good will aid your journey.” I always take that with me when I travel!
“All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation…”reads part of the Scientific Statement of Being in our textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.
Evan, I love how you went right to work to prove this fact in what appears to be your human experience, the so-called realm apart from the…infinite! Clearly, there is no such realm, however much the sense picture would argue it. Your logic remained true to the divine fact, and you…flew!
There has been some discussion on other CS sites about whether God knows the details of our “human” lives or not. I love knowing that divine Principle, Love, is infinite and so does cover all
aspects of its creation, and just like the principle of 2+1=3 is fixed fact. God covers the details…when we align our thinking with the infinite Mind, when we get thoughts and lives into the Realm of the Infinite. Christian Science is so wonderful, teaching us how to do this!
:<))) Sue
I have this same problem with sleep. Right now, I have problems with getting a good nights rest, but I keep knowing that there is more rest, as MBE points out in S&H, in holy work. That’s what I do now during the night. Instead of fretting and getting all flustered, I pray myself back to sleep.
“He knew the need, knew how to meet it, and would meet it. There would be no loss of anything good.”
Thank you for those particular words about God & the trust we need to hold in him. This has helped me deal with another difficult situation & I feel very much at peace about it all.
With grateful thanks.
Dozens more flights were canceled, but the one flight I was scheduled to take, and the only way I would get to Kansas City, remained posted as “On Time.”……. and trusted that God knew what He was doing.
I stayed in a genuine state of peace and certainty that all was well.
And it was.
That plane did leave, ……
. I was truly at peace feeling the presence of Christ. I was not ruffled or upset about the day. But grateful a plan appropriate to the need worked out.
Sounds like all these dozens of other flights needed a CS practitioner scheduled to fly with them that day.
With this flight going through, is this the evidence of a deeper trust?
and had you indeed spent the night at the airport, is the conclusion still a deep trust and that was also God’s appropriate plan for
the moment.
keeping a quiet mind in the face of a storm is admirable. but is the outcome of making the flight due to deep trust. sounds like since you were in contact with His peace, you would have rented a car or rescheduled the meeting and let that be God’s plan. all good examples of acceptance in the face of many outcomes. but is the flight going through “proof” of a deeper trust? do we base our spiritual growth on the outcome or the process of peaceful acceptance and moving forward with each moment. not to miss the real lesson and have unrealistic expectations of outcome.
Thanks Evan this says it all. I’d be flying tonight heeding back home and for 18 hours excepting lay over times. I kept knowing God has already figured it out so nothing can ever interrupt a harmonious flight and healing along God’s way.
To anon above questioning if the plane leaving was evidence of deep trust…
This hazards misses the spiritual lesson learned. No, the plane leaving is not evidence of deeper trust. The evidence of deeper trust is the deeper trust gained. The plane left, and I was grateful, but that doesn’t mean I was anymore spiritual than people still at the airport. It’s important to know that everyone’s needs are met, whether in the air or on the ground. In this case, a plane leaving with me on it is how circumstances worked out, but if I would have not been on that plane, my needs would have been met some other way. That’s what my deepening trust assured me of, and it brought me peace in the interim. Hope that helps…
Thanks Evan for the clarification on deep trust. The post was about the difference between “surface trust” and “deep trust”.
Surface trust being “everything works out for good”.
And deep trust being “peace be still”
I struggled with the real difference between those two.
With the picture of the dozens of flights cancelled and the end of the story of the celebration in liftoff, it is easy to assume this is the real contrast to various degrees of trust. I have to be careful to understand your examples of each and the logic and jump to conclusions that are in error. Thanks again
To: Anon: Read Prov. 3: 5-6 I think this is what Evan was doing. This does not exclude others from God’s directing path.