Traveling with prayer

Here's a quick vignette about how the Lord's Prayer helped me.

I was traveling in Asia during the fall of 2010.  The trip was going smoothly which was reassuring for me as I was traveling by myself.  On my flight to leave China on my way to Laos, I was told that I could not board as the plane was overweight.  I thought, "Hey!  I am pretty light and I paid for my ticket so I should have a spot on that plane."

I started to freak out because I didn't have any Chinese Yuan left; I didn't have any contacts there in Kunming, I didn't speak Mandarin and I thought that I would just have to spend the night on the airport floor.  I remember thinking about the original impetus for this trip—to see God at work, to experience "Love's divine adventure."  Just in a moment, as I turned from the ticket counter, the feeling of dread that my itinerary had changed faded, and I embraced this feeling of a divine adventure, a phrase used by Mary Baker Eddy in Miscellany 158:9

In a few minutes I went back up to the ticket counter.  The ticket agent explained, in rusty English, that the airline would provide transportation to a hotel, a hotel room, and spending money for meals.  So I got to explore Kunming for the afternoon, managed to call my friend in Laos to explain the delay, had a great meal at a Japanese restaurant, and extra Yuan.

When I went back to airport the next day I was on time, but the ticket counter again told me that I couldn't travel that day; that the flight was too full, but that I could check back in a little.  "Ahhh!!!!"  I almost started crying as I felt really alone.   It wasn't a rational thought but I envisioned myself stranded in Kunming forever!

I went to sit down and pulled out the insert of the Christian Science Quarterly that has the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation.  I read it with such discernment and focus—the trust that something in this prayer could help me. It wasn't long before Mary Baker Eddy's explanation hit me—"Our Master said, 'After this manner therefore pray ye,' and then he gave the prayer which covers all human needs..."

That was it!  I felt that I had a human, an honest need to move along with my trip even though I didn't know how this would all work out, but that God was a present help and communicator.

When I walked up to the ticket counter again, the agent said that I did have a spot on the flight. I don't think I was ever so happy to see a boarding ticket as I was that day!

I'm glad that God isn't a human form selectively granting people's prayers.  I was learning that God is Spirit—divine power available to us all.  Spiritual understanding is not separate from human needs; spiritual understanding is the greatest need.  As I found that spiritual center of balance or trust in God, so it was that my human needs were met.  There's no end to this. This truth applies to us all—to be well, to be employed, to be safe, to be loved; this truth that comes from spiritual understanding not human situations.

Much love, Ginger