I am a bit wary of people who call themselves “holy”.
Wearing the word like a badge of honor
Or a shield. 

​But I fully embrace when others can see the holiness within us
Giving us the name
In a way that peers past all of our wounds into our souls. 

It takes special eyes to see past the muck of the world
To the true God image within.
It’s not a task for the faint of heart. 

But when you can see it
And call forth the holy within it changes a person forever
In the way that a badge or shield never can. 

I recently had to travel for work. This is something I did all the time pre-pandemic, but I've cut back a lot post-pandemic. Maybe I'm just out of practice, but I have found that I'm not as good of a traveler as I age. Or maybe it's better to say that I'm not as good of an airplane traveler as I age. 

The hurry-up and wait nature of traveling on planes can be daunting, but it also allowed me time to write and think and read, especially after experiencing three delays on the way to my destination and one delay on the way back home. 

​The reality is that life rarely goes as planned - there are bumps, hiccups, and delays along the way - the question is what do we do with that time? Do we allow it to grate against our soul, or do we take it as a gift as it comes?