Greetings Orchard Covenant Church Family,
Family, you know I am really in these lessons of learning with you. Very recently, I had one of those travel days that reminded me how gratitude can find its way into times in our lives that can feel like too much.
With my bright ideas, I chose an airline I hadn’t taken before because I thought, oh, they have a direct flight. I figured it would be a simple, easy, and fast ride to where I was going. However, when I arrived at the airport, the line to check-in was wrapped all the way out the door. Their app wasn’t working, and there were no kiosks to check in like other airlines. So, everyone had to wait in one long line that felt like it went on forever.
By the time I reached the counter, it was exactly thirty minutes before departure which was the last possible moment to check in. Can you imagine my stress at that point? The agent printed my ticket and told me to hurry. I rushed to TSA PreCheck line, only to learn after waiting in it, that my information hadn’t transferred onto my boarding pass. They had no mercy, they sent me all the way back across the airport to the regular line and by then, I had only fifteen minutes left.
I get in the regular line, it’s moving inch by inch slowly, and I thought, I know I have missed this flight. Of course, it felt like everything was taking forever and it was. By the time I made it through, I had ten minutes left before departure. I said, “Lord, hold the flight for me.” Yes, I am crazy enough to believe God will hold and entire flight for me! I get through the line finally, grabbing my things and my shoes, too hard-pressed for time to put my shoes on. Briefly, for a fleeting couple of seconds I slowed down, convinced I was too late, then something in my spirit said, move faster. So, I run through the airport barefoot, heading to the gate.
When I arrived, the last passenger, a man in a wheelchair, was being helped onto the plane. I handed my ticket to the gate agent, who looked at me and said, “No, you’re late. We already unchecked you.” I explained everything that had happened, but he said no three times as I am watching this other passenger go on. Just then, after being denied three times to get on the flight, another worker came to close the boarding door, saw me standing there barefoot, whispered something to him in another language, and suddenly, he checked me in and waved me through. I walked onto that plane barefoot and breathless, but full of gratitude.
That experience reminded me that gratitude for us will be cultivated in the in-between places of life. There will be detours we didn’t plan and delays that make us question what God is doing. Sometimes we whisper prayers while standing in places that feel unsure, believing it might be too late. Then grace surprises us. Doors open. Paths clear. Gratitude helps us see that God can hold entire planes for us. Delay does not mean denial—it means God is still working, even in the waiting, turning what looked delayed into right-on-time favor.
Psalm 27:13 says, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
I made that flight. Maybe you’re waiting for something to take off in your life too. Gratitude has a way of keeping your heart open until goodness arrives.
With gratitude and grace,
Pastor Tamara
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