Musings at Altitude

Tuesday’s are tough for me.  Always a minimum of 5 hours in meetings.  Most of the time, 3 or 4 of those hours are on the phone, with very few if any breaks.  And it’s incredibly tough for me to stay focused.

So I’m grateful when I’m in my office in Colorado Springs and I get to look out my window at Pikes Peak and allow my mind to meander while the conversation goes on behind me on the phone.

And during the intensity of the conference calls today, I took this picture out my window:

As I studied this picture, my mind focused in on the special meaning behind several things in this view. 

For example, the train carrying a full load of coal is on the downward side of a significantly tough journey up to a maximum height of 7,000 feet above sea level just North of Colorado Springs.  It’s down to about 6,300 feet at this point, and heading down to just about sea level by the time it gets to the plains of Texas.  We passed several of these loaded coal trains heading South during our weather interrupted journey this past weekend, and we passed several other completely empty trains heading back North for another load. 

As another example, the cement truck up on I-25 is a sign of infrastructure work being done on the highways and bridges around Colorado Springs.  Much of this work was begun long before the stimulus package promised so much more work, and I’ve often called it a public works project because it’s never ending on the highways and overpasses of Colorado.  With the stimulus funding coming, I imagine this current work, which already impedes traffic during our busiest hours, will only intensify and expand, thus causing even more headaches for those struggling to get to work on time or get home for a relaxing evening with the family.

And as a final example, the parking lots of the buildings all around our office are full…including our own.  Although we’re hearing all the time about the struggles in the economy today, the traffic and the parking lots offer a very different story and present a sign of economic recovery rather than economic distress.  I hope that’s true because I’m tired of the dire warnings of the tough times ahead.  I want to smile in seeing the parking lots full and the highways packed!

After studying this fairly narrow view for a while, I pulled back and took in the glory of the broader image out my office window:

I thanked our Creator for His magnificent creation and then went back to focusing on the discussion at hand.  Fortunately, I didn’t miss anything during those mental meanderings.  That’s sad in a sense, but also fairly typical of intensely bureaucratic discussions. 

I add very little value to any discussion on policy or standards or process, so it may very well have been a better use of my time to stare out the window and let my mind wander and then get ready to reengage with a revived spirit and a big smile on my face!