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Life at 37,000 Feet

I was sitting comfortably in the plane seat as we taxied to the runway for the takeoff.  I was heading home again after a couple days away for a conference.  The pilot’s voice came on the intercom to tell us the weather back home was not as nice as the weather we were leaving.  That was ok, since I already knew it.

And then the pilot told us that after taking off, he would be climbing to 37,000 feet, which would be our cruising altitude for the flight home.  I did not think much about it in the moment.  I have flown enough that the altitude for the “cruise” does not concern me.  But then, I began to ponder it. 

I am the kind who still finds it remarkable that so many people can be in this machine with two wings that speeds down a runway and then gently leaves the ground and begin a climb into the air.  I really have no conception of how much one of those creatures weighs, but I know it is a huge number.  Slowly, this metal bird climbs.  The cars on the roads below begin to look like toys.  Buildings resemble matchboxes.  Size becomes warped as the altitude gets higher and higher. 

As we reach 37,000 feet, it is easy to sense the plane leveling off.  Even though the pilot’s voice announces that we have reached cruising altitude, I already know it.  That is when I begin to think about just where I am.  I know 37,000 feet is a big number, but it staggers me when I translate it into other terms.  I realize I am literally seven miles high!  It occurs to me that my drive from home to my building on campus is only three miles.  Seven miles is more than the countless “10Ks” I have run (6.2 miles). 

While this may be interesting, you might be asking what this has to do with spirituality?  Quite a bit, when you think about it.  So let’s pursue some of the things this image can teach us.

In the first place, the flight home is just that: it is a flight and not home.  The flight may last a couple hours.  Even if I fly to China, the flight only lasts 13-14 hours.  We don’t live on the plane.  We live at home.  One might say the flight is the means and home is the end. 

A different way of saying the same thing is that life is not lived “on a high.”  Certainly I and, I assume, all of us like those moments in life that we call “highs!”  Many of them are very special times when life does not get any better than that.  They can be predictable events like births or graduations or the like.  Some of these we build up to, work hard for, and genuinely enjoy when they happen.  Other “highs” may come serendipitously.   

What’s true of all these “highs” is they don’t last forever.  In fact, many of them don’t last very long at all.  They are like the 37,000 feet flight.  You go up and then you come back to earth!  Most of life is lived on the ground---in normal and routine ways.  Most of us experience life when we are not “high.”  And that’s ok. 

But that is precisely where spirituality enters the picture.  Of course, there can be “highs,” spiritually speaking.  We may be able to go to the mountaintop and see God.  Or we may even be graced and find ourselves on the mountaintop.  But just like Moses, we will have to come down.  Nobody lives on the mountaintop.  In fact, most of us don’t even get to visit very often.  Most of us don’t fly at 37,000 feet every day either. 

What spirituality offers is a way to live on earth and to live there in meaningful ways.  Spirituality offers a way to be at “home” in the ordinary---the routine and the normal---of our lives.  Spirituality offers connection, community, and communion to all who have that heart’s desire.  Spirituality provides connection.  It helps us connect to the Spirit of the universe.  Sometimes this Spirit is called God or by other names.  Names do not matter.  Being connected does.  That is what spirituality does.  It is a great antidote to being disconnected.  Connection brings us down from 37,000 feet and plants our feet on the ground and our heart in the heart of the Spirit. 

Spirituality also provides community.  Community is the guarantee that we are not alone and that life does not have to be lonely.  Community is where we discover others care about us and will even serve us.  And conversely, community is where we also care about others and choose to serve them.  The mutuality of community sometimes feels miraculous. 

Finally, spirituality offers communion. The Spirit nurtures our spirit through connection.  The community nourishes our spirit in multitudinous ways.  Sometimes it is literal food and drink.  More often, we are nourished in metaphorical ways.  Jesus invited us to drink from deep wells.  The Israelites ate manna, the gift of heaven.  We, too, will be able to commune and be in communion with God and with all God’s children in our community. 

For a while, I did experience life at 37,000 feet.  But then the plane landed and again I resumed life on the ground and in my normal way.  But I can do it spiritually…thank God!

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