Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. —Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
Waiting in an airport—on a long immigration line after an overnight flight—was one of those chaotic places where it didn’t seem remotely possible to start my day with God, as I try to do back home. My legs and back ached, and my eyes burned from a sleepless night in a tiny airline seat. Now I was trapped in a mob of people chattering in foreign languages.
At least I’m not traveling with a baby and a toddler like that young couple over there, I thought, glancing at folks I guessed to be Hasidic Jews. The mother inched a child in a stroller over to the wall to wait as the father stationed himself on the customs line, grasping four passports in one hand and dragging two suitcases in the other.
The baby was positioned upright in a carrier facing his father’s chest, and there was just enough give in the carrier so the baby could hold up his small head and look up into his father’s face. It was mesmerizing to see his wide-eyed adoration in the middle of all of the confusion and noise. Even though the father was concentrating on his responsibilities, he seemed to feel the baby’s sweet, silent gaze. The father instinctively placed a gentle kiss on top of the baby’s head.
That tender kiss made me realize that there’s never a time or place where it’s impossible to start my day with God—even from the immigration line.
