My flight to Philadelphia was scheduled to leave at 11:35 AM. But there was no plane at the gate at 11:30 AM, which was obviously a bad sign. About that time the ticket agent explained the plane was ready and sitting in the hanger about a quarter mile away, but there was no one to move the plane to the gate. A classic worker shortage situation.
The drama continued for a few hours as they scrambled for crew, extra ticket agents, and maintenance staff. Eventually they cancelled the flight. I won’t bore you with the (irritating) details.
There’s a misplaced presumption that the worker shortage is caused by extra government relief benefits. That might have been true months ago, but those benefits are long spent. The real reasons for a worker shortage are multiple and complicated.
But that’s a sideshow to this blog post. What’s my real point?
Sometimes we in America place our faith in the power of work more than the power of God.
Or perhaps a better way to say it is that we in America place our faith in the power of effort over faith.
We often believe hard work solves everything. Down on your luck? Keep trying. Struggling with calculus? Study longer. Relationship issues? Work harder at it. Homeless, addicted, mental illness? Just be more resilient.
You get the idea.
The awkward reality (for my point anyway) is that effort and hard work often can solve our problems. In most situations it certainly helps. I’m not suggesting otherwise.
But I am saying we might have to push the pendulum the other way a bit. Sometimes we need to trust God more than we trust our own initiative. Sometimes the love and generosity of our neighbor – and the humility to accept it – is more powerful than our own effort.
And sometimes you have to trust the reason a flight to Philadelphia was cancelled isn’t because people don’t want to work. It’s because there is a deeper, more meaningful reason. And we just have to trust God to find out why.
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