I ended the last blog post with the question: “If your life was an airplane altitude color, at what altitude level with God would you be?”
In answering that question personally for myself, my immediate “blink” reaction was: “I would certainly aspire to be a bright-pink airplane … the highest altitude level. Isn’t that what everyone would want to aspire for? Isn’t that the best and the closest to God?”
But immediately on the heels of that came: “But I’m not perfect so there’s no way I’m a bright-pink. I make lots of mistakes. So maybe I’m a purple airplane? I do try my best.”
No … no I don’t think I’m purple either. I’m not perfect and I’m well aware of all the areas in my life God is working on. Maybe a deep blue??
No. No, I’m not a blue at all. When it comes down to it, I’m a “yellow altitude” airplane.
Here is the graphic I shared in the last blog post of Minneapolis-St. Paul. I made the comparison that when God looks down from heaven on humanity it’s sort of like looking at this view. God sees every person! God sees in vivid color what each person’s “altitude level” is.
In pondering my own personal “altitude level” … it struck me that I’m not a “purple altitude” plane or a “bright-pink altitude” plane because I wasn’t made to be that. God made me to be a little “yellow altitude” plane.
The “purple and bright-pink altitude” planes are the biggest planes. They have been specifically designed and built to carry hundreds of passengers. They have been intentionally made to fly that high, so that they can go that fast, so that they can travel from one side of the globe to the other.
Neither am I made to be a “blue altitude” plane. The “blue altitude” planes also have a high cruising altitude as they traverse the entire length and breadth of the country. They likewise carry hundreds of passengers.
Did you notice on the screenshot of Minneapolis-St. Paul that the airplanes aren’t just all different colors (indicating their different altitude levels) but the airplanes are not all the same. There are lots of different types of airplanes.
That’s each of us! God didn’t make us all to be same! When God looks down from heaven on humanity he sees each of us as uniquely different from each other … and each of us “flying” at our own unique individual “altitude levels.”
Some of us God made to be jumbo jets – which have a large capacity. I can think of people in my life whom I admire and look up to because they have such a large bandwidth and capacity when it comes to life. They can do so much! They are so smart!
I can think of other people in my life whom I would consider to be “blue-altitude” airplanes. They are likewise amazing! They likewise can accomplish amazing things in life!
But that’s not me. God made me to be a little “yellow altitude” airplane. (similar to the little plane I talked about a few blog posts ago which took its sight-seeing passengers on a couple of loops around Mt. Baker)
The little “yellow altitude” airplanes were not made to carry hundreds of passengers. They were made to carry only a few passengers. Such as the few sightseeing passengers on the little plane from Friday Harbor, circling around the summit of Mt. Baker.
The little “yellow altitude” planes were not made to cruise at super-high “bright-pink” altitude levels. They were designed and built to putter around at “yellow altitude” levels. The little sightseeing plane from Friday Harbor never could have treated its passengers to loops around Mt. Baker if it was cruising super-fast at a super-high altitude level. The little “yellow altitude” plane could do things the super-fast, super-high “bright-pink” planes could not do.
That’s the way it is when it comes to life. God has made us each uniquely different. Some of us are “yellow altitude” airplanes. Some of us are “blue altitude” airplanes. Some of us are “purple altitude” airplanes.
Here is the screenshot once again of Minneapolis-St. Paul. When God looks down from heaven on humanity, he is not seeing us as whether or not we are “super spiritual” in our altitude level to him. No … he is seeing if we are “flying” at the “altitude level” he made us to fly at.
Are we doing with our life what God has made us to do? Are we being obedient to what God has instructed us to do?
Now here’s a question: What if the big long-haul jumbo jets decided to hang out down in the “yellow altitude” level? Well … that would be a problem. They would create all kinds of turbulence for the smaller airplanes designed to fly in that particular airspace.
Likewise, what if the little “yellow altitude” airplanes decided to fly down in the “orange altitude” level? They would probably hit trees and power lines because they would be flying too low. This also would be a problem.
To be sure, we all go through phases and seasons of life when we go up in altitude level … or down in altitude level. Just like all planes go through phases of takeoff and ascent … as well as descent and landing.
Mine and hubby’s current season of life is caregiving for aging parents. It has been utterly exhausting and really difficult! You could say mine and hubby’s “airplanes” have been going through a phase of “descending in altitude.”
On the flip side, perhaps someone might have just had a newborn baby, or started a new job. This is an exciting life change! In this case, you could say their “airplane” is going through a phase of “ascending in altitude.”
Life takes us up and down. Life’s circumstances can be wonderful & exciting … “ascending in altitude.” Or life’s circumstances can be crushing … “descending in altitude.”
But on the whole of life, we are meant to have a “cruising altitude” at the specific altitude level God designed us for.
So back to the question: “If your life was an airplane altitude color, at what altitude level with God would you be?”
Rather than trying to answer the question based upon how close to God our relationship with him is, I think we each should examine our own lives and ponder if our life is “flying” at the “altitude level” God made us for. Are we being who God made us to be? Are we being obedient to do what God has instructed us to do?
“What good is it if a person claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? … Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
“Was not Abraham considered righteous for what he did … you see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. …
“So faith without deeds is dead.”
– James 2:14-26
