I am flying an enormous paper airplane
Via remote control
Around some kind of course

It seems made from a yard of tan butcher paper
No engine
Just some featherweight controls

The course is in the shape of a horseshoe
An upside-down U, open towards me
I barely make it to the first checkpoint
One-third of the way around

The landing zone seems like the surface of a bar.
Maybe it is.
Maybe the whole course is.

The navigation is incredibly stressful
There’s almost no margin of error
I have to watch how the plane is behaving
Infer the wind currents
And delicately make minute adjustments
To keep the plane aloft
And on track

The first straightaway
Was, well, straightforward
Though still quite demanding

The curve of the U will be even harder

But the third leg
Will be completely different
And far more difficult
Inverted somehow

I don’t even know what that means
Am I flying in reverse?
Upside down?
Through a mirror?

Or
Will the roles be reversed
And the plane
Is flying
Me?

---

I wonder
If this is about
Parenting
Or discipleship

Maybe
They are the same thing