If you don't laugh, you'll cry. That has been my motto. Well, this was one of those times.
Recently I was on a trip down south to visit my kids for the holidays. Since my kids are spread out in four different states, I decided to get the most bang for my buck and see as many of them as possible. The journey began as I flew to see my son and daughter-in-law in North Carolina. From there I took a bus to South Carolina to visit my daughter and her family. What should have been a four hour trip turned into 6-½ hrs as the bus broke down halfway there. There's a Bible verse that says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Needless to say, not one of my favorites. Joy is a choice and with joy, you can laugh. So, when the bus broke down, I decided to make the best of it, even when the lady behind me chose to change her daughter's dirty diaper and the fumes were overwhelming and when I hobbled off the bus with my bad knee to go find something edible in the dollar store. I ended up finding a generic lunchable with bologna and cheese. I couldn't bring myself to read the ingredients. (Actually part of me enjoyed it but that's our secret). What got me through was keeping my mind on where I was going…being with my family and seeing the smiles on my granddaughter's faces. For that, I would've climbed a mountain.
The next leg of the journey involved another bus ride to Georgia a week later. After a nice visit with my oldest son and his family, he dropped me at the airport and this was where the “count it all joy” was going to make or break me.
Since my knee was in rebellion, I arranged for a wheelchair to take me to my gate. If any of you have flown from Atlanta, you know this is one of the biggest airports in the world. When I arrived at the wheelchair assistance area, there were many people in front of me. I literally sat there until 10 min before my flight was boarding waiting for an escort. My panic level was very high even though I was assured I wouldn't miss my flight.
When we arrived at TSA security, the line wasn't terribly long but the woman in front of me didn't have an acceptable ID and the line stopped moving. It gets better. We finally got around her to another agent and proceeded up to the conveyor belt where I placed my shoes and suitcases so they could be scanned. I stepped through the body scanner and waited for my things. My plane was now boarding. As my belongings came out of the machine, I quickly grabbed them only to find one of my shoes was missing! I think I went into shock. I searched other bins coming down the belt but my shoe was nowhere to be found. I was on the verge of hysteria. Count it all joy? Since I didn't have any other shoes, I knew leaving was not an option. Thankfully, they searched the machine and found it a few minutes later but the clock was ticking. We had to take two elevators, a train and race through hallways. As we rounded the corner to the gate we found an empty waiting room. All the passengers had boarded. As soon as she saw us, the agent at the gate said, Oh I thought my ladies were going to miss their flight! We made it with minutes to spare. Count it all joy.
When I arrived at my assigned seat, there was a gentleman sitting in it. At this point, everything in me wanted to grab him by the shirt collar. Count it all joy. Instead, I politely informed him he was in the wrong seat. After giving me a deer in the headlights look, he moved over. I sat down and took some deep breaths to calm my racing heart.
I've told this story many times. I realized I could share it with the frustration and anger that I felt at the time but it wasn't going to do me any good to revive those feelings. Instead I decided to count it all joy and bring joy to others by giving them a good laugh…the part about my shoe was the highlight.
Life is hard. There's no way around it. We are all on our own journeys, some longer than others. Our stories are being written but we can choose how they end. If you know me, you know mine has been of paralyzing anxiety and fear. I don't want my story to end that way. God doesn't want it to end that way. My pastor said yesterday we need to say this to ourselves, “I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I was.” A year ago, I would've never thought I would be flying all over the country let alone by myself. For me, it's about accepting the hard things I can't change and knowing I'm never alone. It's about believing there's always a light at the end of the tunnel even if I can't always see it. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5. The light is Jesus and because of Him, I can count it all joy.
