It's a wonderful life.

It's only November, but my Starbucks cup is Christmas colors with snowflakes. Yes, they mispelled my name, but I don't care. Right now, I'm listening to "It's a wonderful life" being sang by a man at the piano of the Jacksonville airport lobby. As he sings, and I sit here at the Starbucks table, I just took a deep breath to soak it in. Yes, it IS a wonderful life.

Last night, as I set my alarm for bed, I looked at my flight information and saw that my flight took off at 11:40 am. So I set my alarm nice and early for 8:30am to make sure I got to the airport in time. I've been rushed so much at my last few airport trips that I really wanted to try to not rush and actually get there in plenty of time.

I arrive promptly at 10:40am and go to check in. The touch screen pulls up my name and my departure time.

"NASHVILLE DEPARTURE 3:00PM"

I take a double look... what? Really? My flight got delayed to 3! What the heck?

I ask the Southwest guy behind the counter why the flight is delayed, and he looks at me strange, "It's not delayed, it leaves at 3pm". I look again at the screen and look back at him. "But, I read on my phone last night that it leaves at 11:40am. I have it right here!"

I pull up my confirmation email..... and I couldn't believe I did that. I totally misread my flight info and read Stephen's departing info from San Diego instead of mine.

DOH!

::Deep breath::

::Trying not to think about how I could have slept in instead of only getting 6 hours sleep like I did::

::Another deep breath::

So I check in, purse and camera bag in hand and I step away from the counter, kind of in shock. I'm so not used to being early anywhere, let alone 4 hours early, so I just sit there kind of stunned, like, what do I do now to kill time?

The first thing I see is something familiar.... Starbucks.... step 1, go get caffeine. So I ordered my Venti Green Tea Latte and sat at a table in front and pulled out my laptop. Sure, I could do work, but for once, I actually got caught up before I left. Sure, I could stress, but as I sit here and watch people walk by and listen to "It's a wonderful life" being sang behind me, I just take another deep breath and realize, you know what, I have a choice..... I could stress and complain about the extra 4 hours I have to do nothing.... or I can be thankful that I wasn't 4 hours late and that for this temporary moment in life, I have time to simply, "Be still and know that I am God" as He reminds us in Psalm 46:10.

Being still is something I feel like I haven't done in my life in a few months. For someone who isn't a natural planner, yes, wedding planning is stressful for me. On top of trying to run a business, on top all the natural changes that come with being engaged, on top of a busy wedding season, on top of the holidays coming up, on top of trying to get ready to go out of town, on top of the private things going on in my life that yes, I do keep off the blog..... being still has become a stranger to me.

So I sit here and look around the airport lobby watching people getting their Starbucks, or sitting in the green rocking chairs that the airport provides to welcome it's visitors to the South, or people frantically running to security, and others hugging their loved ones goodbye, and others welcoming their new arrival with excitement... I simply sit here and choose to be still in this moment and just observe the life swirling around me. And to be thankful for this moment in my life where I can be still. And to be thankful for another day the Lord has given me to experience this life and travel to a fun new place.

Because really, life is a choice. Are we going to clutter it with busyness and complaints, or are we going to choose to have moments to be still and be thankful for what we are given in life? I'm trying to work on the latter.