Up, Up and Away!

This is a picture of the airport in Phoenix, AZ when my husband and I were there a few years ago. This morning my beautiful granddaughter, Hillary, will change planes in this same airport. She and a friend are flying, as I write, from Memphis to Phoenix where they will board another flight that will deliver them later this afternoon to their greatly anticipated destination – HAWAII!!

Yesterday I had the joy of packing her suitcase for her and helping her organize what she would take and what she would leave behind. She took about five bikinis and enough clothes to change three or four times a day. Oh, wait a minute. That’s what teenage girls do, isn’t it? They change clothes three or four times a day. Okay. So, maybe she just took the bare necessities. GRIN!

This is that same sweet angel on one of her first airline flights ever. During Spring break 2001, Hillary flew with me to visit my son (her Uncle John) in Cleveland, OH. No bikinis for that trip. Cleveland had an eight inch snow the day before we came and the first thing we had to do upon arrival was buy her a SLED!

I remember how nervous she was when we took off on that flight. She hugged her stuffed animal to her heart with one hand and gripped my hand as tight as she could with the other. Yesterday, she confessed to me that for this trip, she was more nervous about being homesick – about missing her mother – than she was about the flights. You cannot imagine how blessed that made me feel. Do you know how many teenaged girls and their mothers live at constant "odds" with one another? SO many girls Hillary’s age (many of her friends) see their mothers as an enemy instead of an ally.

I am greatly blessed by the loving relationship I see my daughter enjoying with HER daughter. This is the parenting stage where kids have to be given "wings." That’s a hard stage for us mothers. It’s a lot easier giving them "roots" than it is giving them "wings."

It wasn’t easy for Hillary’s mother to let her embark on a trip of this magnitude but she did so after MUCH preparation. Eighteen years of preparation to be exact. Eighteen years of giving her "roots." And weeks of counsel, lectures, advice, instruction, etc. just prior to "wings" for this trip. GRIN! She even printed maps of each airport Hillary would be in for Hil to have with her itinerary. Not sure I would have thought of doing that.

Way to go, Lisa! I’m SO proud of the kind of mother you are to my grandchildren. You started your mothering adventure much younger than I would have chosen for you to; but, as always, God knew what He was doing. He has granted you wisdom, knowledge and discernment through the years. You’ve raised your children with love and compassion and years from now, they will do what the Bible says in Proverbs 31. They will arise and call you blessed.

I’m praying this morning that Hillary and her friend will have wonderful, safe, on time flights and totally enjoy a grand adventure in Hawaii. By the way - Neither my daughter nor I would mind if you want to pray for them too. GRIN! (They’ll return August 7th.)

With thoughts of Hillary and airplanes filling my mind this morning I am reminded of how much I love to fly. I flew home from North Carolina just two short weeks ago after visiting with my daughter and her family. In just three days, I will board another flight to Ohio to enjoy some time with my son and his two precious daughters. I love to fly. Do you? I have loved it for as long as I can remember. I can’t say that I love the hassle of airports, flight delays, lost luggage and all that – but the actual act of flying – I have always loved.




There is something about looking out the window of a plane as it rises higher and higher above the earth and watching as the earth below grows smaller and smaller, that always makes me think what I am seeing must be a bit like God’s eye view. Every time I fly, I am awed by an awareness of Creator God as I look upon the earth from that vantage point. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for the astronauts as they look back at earth from outer space!



The psalmist never had the option of flying but here’s how he described similar feelings:

When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him?
Psalms 8: 3-4

What is man? We’re just a little speck in this great cosmos. Yet our great and awesome God IS mindful of us. Not just mindful – but intimately involved and CARING about every tiny detail of our lives.



The psalmist goes on to say that God has CROWNED man with glory and honor. (v.5) Can I ask you something today? How’s your crown sitting? Are you wearing it with all the confidence that royalty bestows? Or, have you forgotten your royal ROOTS as you’ve spread your WINGS to fly about the daily tasks of your life?

Peter wrote:

But you are a chosen race,
a ROYAL priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9

What are you ruling over in your life today, my royal sister? Are you reigning over your circumstances and your feelings? Your Heavenly Father is mindful of you. He is looking down upon you and cares about every detail of your life. He has crowned you. Are you wearing the crown He has placed upon your head with dignity and integrity?



He has made you ROYALTY so that you may proclaim His excellencies. Are you doing what He crowned you to do? Praise Him right now for His wondrous majesty throughout the galaxy. Thank Him for His marvelous blessings in all the intimate details of your life.



He has called you out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. Straighten your crown. Hold your head up high. And walk in His marvelous light, child of God!

[P.S. - If the spacing is goofy on this post, I apologise. I'm not always technologically savvy enough to make Blogger do what I want it to do!]