A repost of … thanks living…

Dear Blog readers, this initial blog published without me doing one thing. I have no idea how that happened; I looked up and it said “post published!”  I think you received it without the photos and a few additions made. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Yes, Thanksgiving, America’s celebration every fourth Thursday in November is over. I heard a newsman say the morning after the holiday,” Thanksgiving is gone; now the focus is on Christmas.”

Can days of thankfulness ever be gone? Over?

I like to believe thanks living lasts a very long time. Those of you who have my Whispers book of ABC’s or you can buy it here  know that I can make lists all day long with the simple joys of life; in fact, I can go from Apples to Zucchini in minutes or Acorns to Zebras! So often I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for small delights and for the people in my life from Abigail to Zoe!

Recently I realized I had taken for granted the ability to trust. And I was not sure I had ever been thankful, really thankful, I  lived in trust. It’s one of those things most of us think we do quite well.

“I can’t see one thing out there… can anyone see what is ahead?” I whispered to myself. The small window of the plane revealed nothing but fog. Thick, gray fog.  What can the pilot see?  Does he know where we are going? How does he know? What is  in front  of  us? As the plane jumped over bumps in the air, tossed around like a large beach ball, I  could see no further than the edge of the plane’s wing. I questioned my trust odometer.

What does one trust in… now? I mean, what can you possibly trust when you are 30,000 feet in the air, and all you see is nothingness. When the plane suddenly burst through clouds and finally landed, I breathed again.

But I did do my homework. Pilots fly with VFR rules (visual flight reference) when they can see what is ahead; they are not allowed to get close to a cloud. When they can’t see anything around them and clouds prohibit any vision, they must trust something. That’s when IFR… instrument flight rules… go into effect.

Pilots, flying with IFR instruments, cannot trust themselves; they cannot even trust the instruments totally. They are in constant contact with a controller on the ground, monitoring the flight. He is the one guiding the plane through the clouds. Hours of experience and training convince them to trust their instruments, but only with the guidance of the controller.

I had one choice… to trust… in the pilots trusting their instruments, who in turn were trusting the persons on the ground, watching their instruments.  Wow…

As a side note, when pilots first start to fly in clouds they get “the leans.” It’s a sensation that makes them think they’re flying straight and level, when in fact they may be turning and climbing or descending. This is spatial disorientation. The consequence is that the plane continues to turn and descend gradually ending in a spiral dive and crashing. Pilots, such as J.F. Kennedy, Jr. crashed in this kind of situation. (aerocorner.com/blog/what-is-ifr-in-aviation/). Instrument training involves learning to overcome these sensations and trust their instruments are giving good information. Flying, without the right instruments, when there is no visibility is practically impossible. A pilot caught in a cloud must trust 100% the instruments and the controller… no matter what.

This is such a lesson for me. Maybe for you as you wonder who you are trusting in when there are no answers.  I have made a new acronym … or new meaning of IFR in these times when clouds, heartbreaks, circumstances cause impaired vision… when we can’t see what is ahead. When we can only lean back into the airplane seat and trust the One who watches the clouds.

IFR… Invisible Faith Reigns. It’s really all we have. What else can we do, but trust in the One who controls all instruments.

“Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but I trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).

On this first day of December, I am full of gratitude for the ability to trust during the darkness. “Let him/her who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God” (Isaiah 50:10).

… thankfully trusting…