I don't know how many plane rides I've been on. It's been a lot. I've been on planes my whole life, and I flew by myself for the first time when I was 9 years old. So, being on a plane, and 30,000 feet in the air, certainly isn't anything new to me. Still, everytime I'm on a plane I try to take a window seat and spend the rare minutes between my little naps obsessively snapping pictures of the sun, sky, and earth.

There is a beauty about being on the edge of something.
Off the ground.
In the sky.
Scratching the beyond.

It's only by taking a step back that allows us to see a clearer picture. What I see from a plane is far from the complete image, but it's a reminder that our planet is big and beautiful. It has so many peaks and valleys that no person could ever possibly cover them all.

This scale may spark fears of our own significance, or wonder at it's grandeur.
To me, it says:

"Look at me.
Look at my grandeur, my grace.
Look at all the folds and wrinkles of my skin.
Look at my tears as they flow to the sea.
Look at the clouds that clothe me, and bring life to every living thing.
Look at it all.
Be in awe.
I am so much bigger than you can begin to imagine.
I will always have more to show you.
And beyond me,
                              lies a whole universe
whose grandeur even I cannot comprehend.

So worry not little one.
You are not the world.
No planets or moons revolve around you.
No solar system depends on your gravitational pull.
You are not the world, but you are in it.
You are one of many lives that has crossed my surface, and as such you have changed me.
You walked my shores and my mountaintops.
My valleys and my plains.
And I learned what it meant to be loved.
This is why you are here.
Your skill is not making the mountains or carving the valleys.
You are here to love and be loved.
And in doing so,
I am forever different."