By Steve Moran
I always have work that needs to be done. Emails to be answered, articles to be written, and I am really efficient at doing those on an airplane. This morning I got on a plane from Sacramento to Minneapolis looking forward to 4 hours of super-productive time.
After we took off and hit what I guess to be the 10,000-foot altitude mark, I fired up my computer looking forward to 3 hours of uninterrupted internet time.
Then . . . Argh . . . No internet.
I ask to have the router reset . . . It still did not work. I was annoyed, ticked off because it was supposed to work but didn’t.
Perspective
Once in awhile, someone comes into your life who has a profound impact on how you look at things, how you live your life. One of those people in my life was a World War II French war bride by the name Melanie Pettyplace. She was nearly old enough to be my grandmother and she became my prophet, my mentor, my guiding light.
I remember her telling me a story about how she had prayed to God for a new car. A perfect new car. One that had 4 doors, air conditioning, a cassette tape player, was big and safe, and that God gave her that perfect car.
Then one day I got to see it, and it was, well, kind of a junker. But in her eyes and heart, it was perfect.
After she quit driving, on occasion I would take her places and if I hit a bunch of red lights in a row and was getting frustrated, she would tell me that God must have known I needed some little rest breaks, the red lights were God’s gift.
If the lights were all green and we were zipping along, she would talk about how God wanted to make sure we were on time.
My Flight
I could let myself get frustrated or mad about not having internet, that I paid for in the form of a monthly subscription, or I could remind myself that I am flying through the air to a destination three-quarters of the way across the country, going almost 600 miles an hour, more than 5 miles up in the sky, sitting in a first-class seat, drinking coffee with my laptop open and writing this article.
I could get frustrated, but in truth a year from now I will have no recollection that I went 3 hours without the internet on December 2, 2019.
Life is Short
We have been programmed by the internet, by smartphones, by Amazon, by the media to want everything and want it now. Worse, we have been programmed to get mad and frustrated if we don’t get it now. But these are all first world problems that keep us from being our best selves, that keep us from seeing the blessings we have and experience each day.
And besides, if Melanie were sitting next to me, she would tell me: God knew I needed this break from the internet and I should feel blessed, znd maybe she is right!
