Musings 10,000 feet above sea level at 6 AM

This morning I boarded a flight at 5:30 AM, after having gone to bed last night at 1 AM. The past three nights in a row, I've gotten about seven hours of sleep total. You would think I would have gone straight to sleep when I got on that spacious aircraft with three seats all to myself. But as I stared out the airplane window, I was overcome with gratitude, and my mind began to wander. I couldn't sleep.

Usually looking out my window at the plane's wing would not be an ideal view for me, and I would be a bit disappointed with my seat assignment. But today was different. I thought about how amazing it is that such a huge piece of machinery, made up of tons and tons of metal, was able to soar so smoothly, for so long, buoyed up by just two wings. I was grateful for those wings.

I looked beyond the wings down to the ground and saw the lights of the city of Hartford and thought about how very small each individual building appeared. And within each building, there were individuals, who, of course, are even smaller, and would seem especially so when looking down from 1000's of feet up in the sky.

The city seemed to go on forever. How many people were down there? More than I could guess. And what were they doing? Sleeping, getting ready for work, feeding babies, exercising? I could speculate, but I truly had not a clue.

(Note: this picture is not of Hartford, I pulled it from Internet)

As I sat there and looked down on the earth, I thought about how Heavenly Father does the same thing each and every day. I sat and marveled at how He is able to care for, love, and know intimately each one of His children...when there are so, so many.

I was awestruck. I was looking down at just one city, but how many cities are there in this world? And each one with how many thousands or millions of people? And the fact that I knew that He knew not only exactly where I was at that moment, but where each and every one of His children was too, was astounding. My heart filled with gratitude for His love for me, for His care and concerns about my little life, and about my little self. I could not stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks as I looked out that airplane window.

I prayed and I thanked Him for His love, for everything He has given me, for the innumerable blessings, as well as for the trials. My trials seem like nothing in comparison to what so many of His children have to endure...they seem oh so small. But there, in that moment, I learned from Him that no matter how small I feel I am in the grand scheme of things, or how small I feel my trials are, He does not think I am small, and He does not think my feelings are insignificant. He values me as His daughter and loves me more than I can fathom. He assured me that I need never feel like I can't talk to Him about what's on my mind...not wanting to "take up His time". I felt wrapped in the arms of His perfect love. I felt His perfect compassion. I felt so much peace.

I sat this morning and talked with my Father in Heaven, 10,000 feet above sea level, with no phones, no computer...not one thing to compete with Him for my time. There was nothing but me, Him, and the white noise of the airplane engine. It was a perfect moment.