“I love children.”
Not a statement you would expect to hear from another passenger as you struggle to keep three kids from making a scene on the plane you’re on.
But that’s exactly what the kind, elderly gentleman told me as he was waiting in line to disembark the plane once we landed.
For the past few hours, I had attempted to entertain the kids, while trying to keep them belted in and preventing them from bothering the passengers around us.
My son thought the table tray in front of him looked like a fun flip toy. When I got the “Excuse me…” from the lady sitting in the seat in front of him, I quickly apologized and pulled out a snack to distract him.
The boys thought it would be fun to have a screaming contest at one point. The shushing took some energy on my part, but once I distracted them with a coloring book, I could breathe a sigh of relief.
Since the excitement of being on an airplane had worn off, and the kids were feeling restricted in a tight space, I really couldn’t blame their restlessness. I had worked so hard to keep them from disturbing the people around me, and I felt exhausted when we finally landed.
Hearing the kind words from the gentlemen was just what I needed. He said he could hear them from where he had been sitting and said it was nice to see them. He told my husband that we were blessed.
He proceeded to high-five the kids and made them feel wanted and appreciated.
He was right. I loved children, too. And I was blessed.
How easy to forget the blessings in the midst of the chaos and confusion of our daily lives.
Sometimes it just takes a reminder from a stranger to make you realize that we should appreciate the little things. Were it not for God’s great love and compassion for us, we would not be able to enjoy such blessings.
Let us praise God for even the smallest blessings with the words that David used in Psalm 103.
“Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—”
-betsy
