The Runway

Yesterday, very early in the morning, I took my dad to the airport to catch a flight out to Utah. It was still dark outside, as the sun had not begun its rise. After dropping my dad off and starting the drive home, I looked at the runway which was covered in bright blue lights. From my point of view, the paths that those lights created for pilots were not visible. All I could see was a mass of blue dots spread randomly over the runway. I realized that what a pilot sees as he approaches those lights is much different than what I saw because from high in the air, a pilot sees it all- the big picture.

God is our Pilot. Much of what happens to us and others will not make sense to us in the moment. During these moments, it's important to remember these things.

1) "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). God knows what we do not know. Everything that happens to us can increase our growth and bring us closer to God. Remember this and you won't question His purpose or His love.

2) Because God's ways and man's ways are different, much of what God requires of us will seem counter-intuitive. Leave the ninety and nine sheep for the one which is lost (Matthew 18:12), the first shall be last (Luke 13:30), Naaman's miraculous cleansing in the unclean River Jordan (2 Kings 5:10-12), "he that findeth his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39). When we're tempted to ask "why", recall that much of what God has asked from His children is beyond man's understanding.

3) Just because God's purposes are beyond our understanding doesn't mean we can't know His purpose for our lives. Doctrine and Covenants 5:24- "if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see." We can see what God sees if we ask Him in faith and humility. We can have the view of the Pilot.

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treach'rous shoal.
Chart and compass came from thee;
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.