My friend and I reserved seats on a short trip. The online process seemed simple: “Do you want to choose your seats?” It cost extra, and we didn’t think it would make much difference, so we answered no. We chose our time, paid online, and saved our confirmation.
We showed up the following day, showed our tickets, and were directed to a specific area. We sat down in a group of open seats, but we were a little confused, because all the seats had numbers on them. Why would they have numbers if it was the area of open seating?
Because it wasn’t open seating. Apparently, selecting to not choose our seats simply meant the carrier would assign our seats. So, yes, we were sitting in someone else’s seats. And apparently, our seats weren’t even side by side. And we discovered all this about one minute before the departure time. Maybe the timing was a good thing, since the person who told us to move realized there wasn’t much time, so she directed us to an area that had four open seats. We still got to sit together.
Were there better seats than where we sat? Sure. Would we spend the money to choose our seats on our next trip? Not to get better seats but perhaps to insure sitting together. That’s why we were traveling—to be together, to make more memories, to share a new experience.
Fortunately, no one was mad at us for not knowing what we were doing and taking seats that weren’t ours. And perhaps where we sat were exactly the seats intended for us. We often eventually get to the seats intended to be for us, whether we do so reluctantly or eagerly. I’m trying to be more intentional about the seats God intends me to occupy for each leg of this journey.
Pure Purpose 