Humility at 35,000 feet

I’m writing this blog entry inside an airplane thousands of feet above the earth’s landscape. We are somewhere between Minneapolis and Colorado. I forced myself to pull out my computer to share what is currently taking place inside of me and outside of this airplane. I’m constantly trying to get my teeth into the idea of humility so I felt compelled to share what I’m thinking right now about it.

I’m on a typical Delta Connection flight. You know, the kind with two seats on each side of the aisle? There’s no first class or business class or any class. Everything is happening within close quarters. Most of us had to gate check our bags because of the limited space in the overhead compartments. I had aspirations of getting some work done and listening to my iPod, but that hasn’t happened yet because I have been attentively staring out the window for nearly an hour. I love the window seat because I always seem to experience humility on a whole new level. Looking out the window, this sort of shrinking feeling settles in.

One of my favorite preachers defines humility as simply seeing God. The opposite of humility is pride. Pride is seeing me. We spend so much time looking at ourselves. For me, looking down from thousands of feet allows me to get a glimpse of God and the idea of “me” fades away. You get humility by just getting a glimpse of God. It re-sizes and right sizes us in a heartbeat. It puts us in the right perspective. There’s no better way to do this than from 35,000 feet. It becomes easy for me to comprehend that I’m NOT the center of the universe. This whole thing is NOT about me. Too often, my focus is on me. When the focus changes, however, we have something different to offer the world.

Today was peculiarly interesting as I looked out the small acrylic double pained window. The weather was acting up a few miles north of the airport, but we were in a cloudless sky. Almost within reach was an accumulation of clouds taking part in one of nature’s greatest spectacles: a thunderstorm. I could see rain falling, but we were flying in clear skies and I was thinking, oh wow, that’s impressive. Literally, it was a wall of clouds. As we flew along and gently gained altitude, I saw something above those clouds that cannot be expressed with words. The clouds seemed to be tenderly wrestling each other in an angelic sort of way. Below the clouds was lightning and rain, but above the clouds was a majestic sight. I have no idea what it was doing for anyone else on the plane because I wasn’t paying any attention to them. I had my forehead stuck to the window glaring at one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.

Meanwhile, the flight attendant was going up and down the aisle offering a choice of Coke products. People were getting up going to the bathroom, but I did’t care. I had this view. I didn’t need any peanuts or pretzels or Fresca or water with or without ice and I didn’t need to go to the bathroom because I had about an hour and thirty-six minutes worth of majesty going on out the window and I couldn’t stop looking at it. I wanted to. I wanted to stop the flight attendant and grab her telephone-looking microphone thingy and shout, “listen up everyone, um, my name is Kevin, I’m not the flight attendant, but I’m just up here in 1D and I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed it or not, but there is like awe and wonder going on out there on the right side of the airplane. I don’t know what you’re getting on the left side, but over here we’ve got majesty, people! I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but I suggest you get into the window right now and look because something out there will completely move your soul. Thank you very much,” and then hang-up the microphone.

I was humbled. It was all overwhelmingly majestic. It was brilliant, radiant, extravagant, and quite significant. Every word that comes to my mind doesn’t do justice to the miraculous magnificence that was going on outside of that airplane. I got a glimpse of God and it set me straight. Humility. It wasn’t long before the clouds disappeared and I could see across the horizon. I love the sight of rivers meandering through the intricate grid work of the country roads and the hustle bustle on the interstate as people leave the big city, however, the clouds were indelible.

At some point we all have to see something out the window that blows our mind. At some point I have to get a glimpse and recognize that God is not 5’7” and that He doesn’t act like me, think like me, talk like me, etc. He’s not on my level or even in my league. He’s different, unlike anything else we’ve ever seen. And if you’ve seen Him out the window, even just for a short flight, you are changed from the inside out. A little glimpse of God goes a long way and it changes a heart and brings with it humility. Humility is a culture of the heart that emanates from within. It’s about an attitude that says, I’ve seen someone greater and I know where my value and power comes from. It’s having a proper sense of who I am in relation to God and now I can do something great because I have a heart that knows the mighty hand of God is holding everything together.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6