A week ago Sunday, I had a meaningful travel experience without ever getting up off the couch.
I watched the Super Bowl.
No, I didn’t go to Dallas or even venture much beyond the kitchen or bathroom. But I did see this commercial:
Yes, I know, so did 140 million other people, many of whom thought it the best ad shown during the Super Bowl.
But to me, it was special because that little kid is me.
No, I don’t go around dressed in a Darth Vader outfit trying to employ the Force on everyday objects, at least not in public. But that commercial captures so well the way I too often approach travel and wonder.
I go on trips looking for moments of wonder, sometimes going to great lengths to pursue or even engender them. But it rarely works. Like the kid in the commercial, I end up sitting dejected, bummed that my trip hasn’t been as surprising or meaningful as I had expected (due more to faulty expectations than anything else).
And then, something new comes along – like the dad coming home in the commercial – and just because of its novelty, my hope gets resurrected. Maybe this experience will be magical.
And amazingly, it is.
In my case, my heavenly Father intercedes. He doesn’t need a remote start. He’s got an entire array of tools called Creation to blow my mind. And here’s the kicker: Just like the little kid in the ad, I’m totally taken aback.
I go looking for wonder and when it occurs, I don’t know what to do with it.
The mini-Darth Vader in the ad may never know what caused his miracle.
I do.
And though such moments may still take me by surprise even as I go looking for surprise, at least I have a clue as what to do when they occur.
I can tell my Father, “Thanks.”