Flying South
Have you ever watched a group of geese fly south? Or maybe they weren’t even flying south, because how they can they all be flying south when I see them hunkered down in the snow in mid-February?! Either way, they are heading somewhere else. I can remember learning in elementary school how they fly in a V formation, drafting off each other, taking turns from the back of the line to the front of the line to keep the group moving forward. I love the order and togetherness of the whole thing. I love the idea that they work as a single unit to get where they are going. Ohhhh the life lessons we could learn from watching a skein of geese fly above.
Funnily though, I recently watched a few crews fly overhead and what struck me was not the order. It was the noisy, messy, loose affiliation with structure and form, that caught my attention. Sure, these geese were together, but their V formation was a disaster. It looked like they just couldn’t quite figure out how to row-up or who was really in charge. Perhaps they had a boss way up there, but it didn’t look like it, and the cacophony of geese voices made it seem like everyone had something to say. How great is that? Even the geese can’t quite get it to run smoothly and it’s supposed to be their second nature. Doesn’t it make you feel so much better about our disorderly journeys?
The smooth migrations we assume are in front of us ofttimes turn into a bumpy ride, and the people we have along with us don’t always fly in proper formation. Somehow though, we get where we are going, even if it wasn’t where we planned on landing. We might have lost some feathers along the way, but we got there. From time to time, the nature around us reminds us how life really looks. We have such high expectations for each other and how we should interact, and more times than not, we don’t meet these tall orders. Instead, we come in and out of each other’s lives, trying to get in a rhythm, but often just getting in the way or going the wrong direction. The key, however, is in the trying. It all moves forward even if those relationships aren’t perfect. We may not be in exact synch, but knowing we are in it together is what actually moves us along.
We live in a time marked by a need for perceived perfection. The shiny stuff is put front and center, even though we know this is not how it all looks. We are all a work in progress, one that looks messy a lot of the time. We need to give ourselves and others the room to be out of order. I bet those geese aren’t fixated on making a perfect line, they are in it together regardless. They are trying and re-trying to make space for one another, so they can all get where they need to go a bit more easily.
That’s what it should be like for us. Instead of searching for the ideal, we need to welcome the messy progress. Take a look at the relationships around you, the communities that form your every day, and do your best to be present as you are. The encouragement you can give a friend, the love you can show your family, that’s the stuff that keeps us all moving forward. Make room for someone else to lead, or step in when they need you to. Look at the beauty of our lives together, not necessarily in perfect order, but magnificently designed to give us the support we need if we let it.
God gave us each other and the space to move forward together regardless of how orderly it is getting there. There was never a plan for us to march in a perfect formation. God didn’t set-up a world that works only in a straight line. Give those around you the space to be with you whether they get it just right or not. Give yourself to others regardless of knowing exactly how to. And then, allow yourself and those around you the space of an open sky where there is room to sort out the ups and downs in your relationships. The view is amazing when we skip the expectations of a perfect journey with perfect travel companions and instead enjoy just flying together. God is in those moments and when we stop trying to micro-manage and start leaning into simply being in it together, it may not always be pretty, but it's always a better way to travel!