Your Airport Self

If you have spent time in Seatac airport this weekend, I probably creeped on you at some point.

Que the background information. I really enjoy airports, mostly because of the fact that one gets raw glimpses of humanity in them. When someone is hurrying for a flight, they forget the fact that hundreds of people are swarming around them, and you get an incredibly brief glimpse of who a person is when they think no one is watching. These people will sometimes surprise you, whether its the little old lady who curses like a sailor and threatens to kill airport staff (only to herself of course), or the guy who is so ripped he could knock me out with his chin crying in the corner while watching Flicka 2. This was even more surprising, as I am not knowledgeable on things Flicka related, and thus did not know that Flicka 2 in fact existed. Apparently horses are involved.

I admit, this is a little bit creepy. However, I think this level of creepiness is something of which we are all guilty. Though I am more than a little bit weird, and often do things that don't make sense to a great many people, I feel that my current examination of other individuals is something of which I am certain I am not the lone practitioner. We, as a collective of human beings, like knowing things, particularly things which we are not supposed to know. The things which we observe others doing in places like airports fall perfectly into that category. In such a setting, we have the opportunity to learn a great deal about someone which they would normally keep from us were we to actually engage them as an individual. In these moments, we do not truly comment on the person we observe, but rather what that person represents.

Being the introspecting individual that I am, this realization inspired me to think on what it is that I represent. I have and will continue to make no secret of my faith (I love me some Jesus), and I hope that I represent that in everything I do. The question that arises for me, though, is how does my airport self represent that which is most important to me? I tend to shy away from clothing which proclaims in neon pink 115 point font that I AM A CHRISTIAN, and walking through an airport proclaiming the love of Jesus might be fun (I also very much enjoy megaphones), the effect would most likely be more negative than positive. Still, the question remains, how do I let that which means most to me show through in my brief, often unknown interactions with people?

The more I think on it, the more I think that this question is fairly unimportant. Indeed, I want my faith to show through everything that I do. However, I have never been one to think that someone can come to understand all that God has for them, the full joy that comes from a relationship with Him in a short, impersonal interaction oriented around something as trivial as a shirt or a tract. God is far too complex, and desires to know each of us far too intimately for any representation of Him which my airport self can provide to be considered worthy.

I am one who tries to look for depth in everything, even something as simple as a brief interaction which two people have in an airport. However, I think I am coming to know that there are indeed some interactions which are truly unimportant. Though it can become easy to get wrapped up in how we are perceived in every single second of every single day, these brief interactions are more often than not quite meaningless. Rather than obsessing over these brief, shallow meetings, I encourage myself, and any who would hear me, to make the effort to truly engage the people around us, and in so doing create the opportunity to share and discuss that which holds importance well beyond this world.

And most certainly beyond this airport.

With His love, and hopefully His grace,
Taylor