expletives excluded.

A conversation I overheard while sitting in an airport.

Here’s the scenario:

My flight was cancelled, and after over 3 hours of delays, I was finally rebooked on another flight 2 hours later.  I was working on my laptop at a little table in the only corner where I could find an available outlet in a small café space in my terminal. Two girls were sitting at the table next to me… approximately 24 inches – give or take – away from my table.

Here is an excerpt from their conversation, expletives excluded, “She should not be doing that to her hair. I don’t like that. She needs to be putting it in braids or something. It’s a joke. How does she do that. She’s going to lose all her hair. …They have a filter on TikTok that you can use to hide all the blemishes… you don’t need to use all that other stuff. …I wish she would just stop being so stupid… She is not happy. Just stop. She tries way to hard. Oh, and another thing...”

This conversation went on for over 30 minutes, with even more opinions and judgements about this girl.

All that time spent in conversation about a girl, who – unbeknownst to her – was doing everything wrong, from her hair, to her clothes, to her filters, to her choice in men, and may I add “her friends.”

Finally, I got up, paid my check, and began to wander around the overcrowded airport, without having anywhere else to go for two more hours.

But as I was sitting there listening to these two girls, the Holy Spirit filled my mind and began asking all the right questions.

What is this going to matter?

What will this conversation actually accomplish?

Better yet, what is the eternal perspective of this conversation?

Ultimately, it made me take the rest of the time I had wandering around the airport to do an internal check of the conversations I have, the time I spend, and all the things I allow to take up my time.

              What do I focus on in conversations with others?

              What do my conversations accomplish?

              What will the time I spend on ______ accomplish?

              Am I maintaining an eternal perspective with the things I do?

With the things I say?

Ask yourself these questions as you think through your day, your week, and even over the last year.

We may find our valuable time is being used in ways we didn’t realize.