I was on my way to join my Mission Medic Team in Bangkok the long way ’round. My flight took me from DC to Amsterdam to Paris and finally to Bangkok. (Then there was a 6-hour van ride south to work with Burmese refugees but that story is for another post.)
My longest layover was at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam which was a lot like many European airports, but instead of standard newsstands, they had colorful tulip stands. They were beautiful. There were flowers and bulbs in every color. They had a box of amaryllis bulbs the size of my head! If I wasn’t going back through customs I would have bought one!
Schipol airport also has a mini “Reyks” museum boasting paintings by Dutch Masters along with a mini library – open for browsing. I strolled through both and enjoyed the quick diversion on my 5-hour layover. The only strange thing to me in this airport was the multiple passport control points required to pass between terminals. I went through passport control 3 times since I had a long layover and wanted to explore. Schipol had some entertaining distractions but it was just a backdrop for my internal musings.
I love airports, especially international terminals. They inspire me on so many levels. The multiple languages, cultures, and diversity fills me with wonder. It makes me want to visit everywhere! I find myself engrossed in people-watching, I looooove watching human interactions. Seriously, it’s one of my favorite pastimes. I often make up my own stories watching bundles of passengers. Beyond the entertainment factor – seeing so many people from so many different backgrounds raises a sense of awe and wonder within me at the immensity of a world so much bigger than myself.
I love seeing people tease each other and laugh, or sit together quietly eating, or arguing over luggage… I don’t have to speak their language to understand the dynamics… and it is all so relatable.
There are so many people around me and yet I don’t recognize a single person. These throngs of people inhabit this same planet with me. They all have family, friends and people that know and love them. Someone is on the other side of their flight, excited to see them. The exponential number of family units blows my mind and then my imagination takes off – they all have Christmas traditions and inside jokes and relatives that probably live overseas somewhere….
You might wonder why this amazes me – I can’t tell you exactly why – except that it reminds me of how small me and my life are, in the grand scheme of things. It awes me because I think God knows every single one of them and all their nuances and he loves them as much as he loves me! (Although that’s up for debate – I sometimes feel that God has a special place in his heart for me…. because I feel so loved, but my hope is that we all feel that way) – that’s kind of the point!
My sense of wonder goes beyond just the sheer number of people around me… I think about all the places these people have been – all the places I want to go and think of how big this world is and how little I know of it. All this reminds me of how dependent I really am on God. How little control I have over anything, in the grand scheme of things. How blessed and grateful I am for the way he cares for me, protects and provides for me… even more than the tulips in the field. Matthew 6:26-30.
