Flight
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
With the invention of air travel, flight has become a practical, even routine, part of human life. In one moment, after a few hours, you can be transported to the other side of the globe. You can start your day in New York and wake up in Zimbabwe. Flight opens us up to a whole world of possibilities. In the air, soaring above the clouds, we gain a spectacular view of the heavens and God’s creation below.
Flight opens us up to the vastness and beauty of the world. After all, we are all called to expand our horizons, to step forward in faith, and to respond to where God is calling us. This is a challenge, but it is also a blessing. It’s like a benediction that we speak over each other as we enter new seasons of life: “spread your wings and fly.”
Whether we are celebrating a graduation, jumping into a new career, starting a family, retiring after decades of work, moving to a new city, or trying something we’ve never done before, we carry this image of flight with us. The hope and prayer is that, like a fledgling bird leaving the nest, our wings will catch the wind, and we will take flight.
It evokes a sacred image from the prophet Isaiah:
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
- Isaiah 40:31 (NRSVUE).
God lifts us, elevates us, pushes us, launches us – and perhaps most importantly God carries us.
Flight can, however, be a fear-driven endeavor. Taking flight can mean running away from your problems. Perhaps it’s a way to elude reality and evade life’s responsibilities. It can be a retreat, the waving of a white flag, a way to give up when the going gets tough.
It can also act as a means to escape the threat of danger—to flee, to escape, to run for safety. Refugees flee from persecution. Out of fear and endangerment, people leave behind all that they know, all that they love, all that is familiar and dear to them. They flee, they fly, they take flight. They move from a place of hopelessness to a place where a future seems possible.
Throughout Scripture there are countless stories of flight—not just of travel, but of terror, of protection, and of hope. When they were naked and abashed, Adam and Eve fled from God. It was in their shame that God spoke to them. When she had nowhere else to go, Hagar fled into the wilderness. It was there, in that moment, when God met her. When he was exhausted and afraid, the prophet Elijah ran to the desert, ready to give up. It was there, in that moment, when God restored him. When their lives were threatened, Mary and Joseph took their newborn child to Egypt. It was there, in that moment, that God comforted them in a dream.
On face value, these Biblical examples might look to some like failures, like a retreat. People running away from God and their problems. But sometimes flight isn’t a failure – it’s a way forward. God met them in their moment of flight, and a way forward was made possible.
Flight is much harder than it seems. The truth is that we don’t always soar. Sometimes we coast. Sometimes we hit turbulence. Sometimes we don’t know even make it off the ground. But just because it’s bumpy doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. Just because it’s slow doesn’t mean that it’s a setback. And just because your takeoff is delayed doesn’t mean your journey is over.
When we can’t get off the ground by ourselves, God swoops in and carries us. God picks us up, embraces us, holds us in loving arms, and brings us to a place of hope.
Whether you’re trying something new or saying goodbye to something old, whether you’re flying high or barely hanging on – wherever you are in life, keep spreading your wings. Keep trying, moving, striving, and loving. We are all on the journey.
In the end, flight is about remembering who you are. You are held, carried, and called by a God who loves you. Yes, flight requires us to live in the tension between struggle and hope, it forces us to be courageous and bold, it compels us to move forward even when the way is unclear. But in the end, we “shall mount up with wings like eagles.” We must take flight.
