I sat in front of a little girl and her daddy on one of my recent flights. We had been sitting on the tarmac for forty-five minutes when the captain's voiced pierced our collective silence with these words, "Folks, this is your captain; we appreciate your patience. Maintenance assures me we should be ready to roll in about fifteen minutes."
Another fifteen minutes at this point seemed like an eternity! Fellow passengers moaned and groaned and I agreed! For the past forty-five minutes I had been listing all the things I didn't like about this air carrier. I had been dwelling on all the bad experiences I'd had in airports lately. "We'll just see," I thought. "It will be a miracle if this plane takes off in fifteen minutes."
My thoughts were interrupted by the little girl's voice behind me. "Daddy, I spy something blue." Determined to be cheerful, the father began to guess, "Is it that bug?" And so the game went.
"Daddy, I spy something good," she said. Her dad giggled. I figured he giggled for the same reason I did at her pronouncement. It was pretty hard to spy anything good in our current, caged predicament. "Is it a bag of M&Ms?" the dad asked. "No," his daughter chimed.
"Is it your new shoes or your sweet smile?" A tender hush fell upon me as I listened to their exchange. Their words cut through my complaining and frustration and reminded me to fix my eyes upon "something good." I decided to "4:8" my thoughts as I settled back in my seat. You know, Philippians 4:8! I decided to dwell on only what was true, lovely and of a good report.
"I spy something lovely, Father!" I exalted in prayer. "You have provided a road of ministry for me to travel. You have opened doors and made my path straight. Delays and inconveniences are simply some of the bumps along the road."
When I began to fix my eyes on truth, then I was able to enjoy my journey. When I chose to dwell only on thoughts that were "praise worthy," then that motionless airplane became a sanctuary of worship. I am convinced that we see what we look for. So fix your eyes on what is true, noble, and pure, and you too will say, "Father, I spy something lovely!"
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things (Philippians 4:8).
