In an airplane
I take the window seat
A thousand feet, and all I know shrinks in minutes
When the sky is gray
I want to believe
That when the sun is hiding it still exists
In an airplane
Are kings and common men
At the window side by side, their view is now the same
Some relax and rest their eyes
Some sit on the edge
As we all break through the clouds, into the light of day
Mountain tops peak through
This is where I see You
I've never seen a clearer blue
This is where I see You
Leave behind your busy life
All you have is who you are
Space like this is hard to find, so breathe it in
Someone will say, "Where are you heading?"
And it might be the first time you ever thought about it
A baby's talking two rows behind me
The sun just set for the second time today
You seem to use the smallest things around me
To get me to this place
'A few months back, I had written myself a note on a scrap piece of paper and thrown it in the bottomless pit of my book-bag ... I think we were in the Nashville airport on a layover or something. There are times when I'll have a brief moment of what is either creativity or insanity (I'm not sure) in the most peculiar places... it's always something extremely random that will inspire an idea for a song. We had talked a lot in the studio about wanting the songs on this record to take a step forward. I knew that I had/have a lot of growing and stretching to do as a writer, but I honestly wasn't sure where to start. Ed had been encouraging me to push myself to try to begin and finish a brand new song in a couple of days. I could have heard that as a call to greater and deeper things as a writer, but all I heard in my teenage-mind was... homework. And it just so happened that when I was unpacking a few days later at home, I found this wrinkled up piece of paper; I tried to make out the words I'd written on it... overcast; dropping off baggage; turbulence; babies crying; the sun is always shining even when I can't see it... As I was reading, I remembered the idea, and the spark of inspiration hit again. I had been chewing on the thought of writing a story-song about flying for a few weeks... it sounded (and sounds) crazy, I know. But my mind flooded with all the possible directions and pictures that could be painted in it... and so I decided to give it a try.
"In an airplane/I take the window seat/A thousand feet and all I know shrinks in minutes/When the sky is gray/I want to believe/That when the sun is hiding, it still exists..."
And little by little, the quirkiest idea (I think) I've ever had somehow turned into a song about hope. I played it for Brad and Ed the next time I was in Nashville, and we started the tweaking process. And thus, my friends, began the week of struggling like I have never struggled before... Ed and I spent three full days looking at the original lyric, trying to pick out the weak spots and make it even better. We all eventually got to the I-want-to-slam-my-fingers-in-a-car-door point, thinking it would never get done. But in the most desperate and exhausted place, God provided. It's such a special song to me now because it was absolutely the hardest to finish. Though there was so much stress surrounding it in the beginning, once it was recorded it felt like such a wonderful moment on the record... a place of freedom and peace. Stepping back and looking at it now is a blessing.' - Bethany Dillon
