I love airports…the eventual destinations are of course important but just sit in an airport and you will see the varieties of human nature never shown elsewhere.
The acceptable display of human emotion is extraordinary. Nowhere else can one publically burst into tears, kiss with abandon, collapse in someone’s arms or smile until your face starts to hurt.
All the above is acceptable there and yet many of those involved would hardly show the same emotion in their own homes. I wonder why. These emotions are as much a part of us as breathing, walking, seeing and hearing. I think we have been trained to believe they are a part of our child-like nature that needs to be hidden. Children certainly don’t have problems showing that they love you or that they missed you.
My great grandson’s last visit proved that. So small he was, and yet the first thing he said to me with a smile, was “Ice cream Gigi?” He remembered his last visit and that special treat. There was an expectation and real honesty in his request that was endearing.
I wonder if we have lost the gift of being endearing. We are so busy being or pretending to be all things to all people. My dictionary says that endearment means “an expression of affection, the state of being loved.”
“Faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.” Scripture certainly spells out what God expects of us.
An advertisement on TV shows a man crying and how attractive that is to a bunch of girls nearby. Our old fashioned British “stiff upper lip” is long past. No, courage and fortitude have not disappeared but let’s be honest…everyone is sad once in a while and everyone has happy moments too. I just wish we would allow ourselves to express those feelings.
As a senior I have that freedom. Hugs and laughter fill my Friday mornings as “my ladies” meet here for Bible Study. But sometimes there are tears and the tissue box is on the table top for easy access. Our sessions are like the waiting room of the Airport, full of stories to share, grieves to bear, scripture to study and treats to taste.
Yesterday a friend and I held hands and prayed for someone carrying a heavy load. I cried throughout the prayer. People cried out to the Lord in the Bible. There is nothing wrong in tears if they are sincere.
But we need laughter too. Perhaps that is what I miss most now I am a widow…the sense of humor my husband brought to our marriage was often like a “bridge over troubled waters”. When times were tough he could see the lighter side of life. It was a great gift.
So cry, laugh and love the Lord. He watches over us. We are his airport on earth and our travel plans and destination are in his hands.
Photograph by Robert Alfers (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
