Musings at Altitude

The sun was just hanging yesterday.

Barely above the horizon.

Not nearly high enough to generate warmth.

Barely high enough to deliver any light.

This was 1:00 pm.

And the shortest day is yet to come.

Still several weeks away.

I’m already yearning for the warmth of a higher sun and longer days.

Since it won’t happen through nature right now, it’s incumbent on all of us to be our own spark and to create our own warmth.

Together then, we can overcome the things that are hanging right now.

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Let’s suppose just for a moment that each day is a new beginning, starting with a magnificent sunrise that signals excitement, enlightenment, and challenges ahead. 

And let’s suppose that throughout the day, that beautiful sunrise gives way to an awesome adventure and a day long journey, filled with opportunities to learn, to serve, to give, to share, and to love.

And let’s suppose that after learning, serving, giving, sharing and loving, we looked back on each day and smiled in knowing that we did each of these with great passion and great commitment, and as a reward for our passion and commitment, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

And let’s then suppose that as the sun sets on any particular day’s adventures, we are reminded that this evening’s rest is just required preparation for tomorrow’s new journey, and to facilitate our rest, we’re given a night light to ease our ever energetic bodies and sooth our frenetically thinking minds.

And as we fall off in a deep sleep, we dream of tomorrow, and in our dreams we smile in knowing that the sunrise of tomorrow will indeed inspire us in new ways and encourage us with its warmth and brilliant light.

We’re blessed because each day is indeed a new journey and each night is most certainly preparation for a new day.

God gave us day and night because He knew we needed rejuvenation after each day of exciting service.

I’m thankful for each sunrise, each daylong journey, each sunset, and each night light!

And I thank God for the visible reminders in His creation of His presence and His love for each of us.

Have a wonderful and passionate journey today.

I will too!

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It’s a special day.

A day specifically set aside to give thanks.

And on this very special day, I’d like to give thanks:

• to our Creator for His magnificent creation
• to my family for their unconditional love
• to my mentors and their incredible wisdom
• to my coworkers and their incredible passion and commitment
• to my friends who respond with love and candor to anything I ask or anything I need
• to those who serve in our military for their sacrifice
• to those who protect us here at home for their dedication and service
• to those who dream and give us excitement about our future
• to those who lead us and through their leadership will guide us to future prosperity
• to those who have challenged me, encouraged me, nurtured me, and tolerated me
• to that special one who has shared this incredible journey of life with me

One day of giving thanks certainly isn’t enough to effectively convey the appreciation that I feel for each of these, but it’s nice to have this special day to pause and give those thanks to the many people who deserve that special recognition.

To each of you, thank you!

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Who does it hurt more – the one you know isn’t capable of doing the job or those around that individual who are expected to cover the one that is letting others down?

Who does it hurt more - the one you put on a pedestal to try and protect for the team or the team who is accomplishing so much behind the scenes without needing or expecting the pedestal?

Who does it hurt more - the one who is doing something wrong and you ignore it to avoid conflict or those who are directly affected by the wrong who must then live with the consequences?

The answer is obviously the latter in each case.

By nature, we want to avoid conflict.  In reality, when we avoid the conflict and allow or enable the wrong through omission or commission, we are hurting those who then must deal with the consequences of the wrong.

We all know we should confront and rebuke the wrongs, yet we don’t; instead, we hope we can subtly nurture it all away.

It doesn’t work that way.

We know it.

Yet we do it anyway.

Time for all of us to change.

And minimize the hurt.

To more quickly regain the joy.

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What does it mean to be nimble in business?

Recognizing an opportunity and being the first in to take advantage of it?

Recognizing a change in the market and adapting your service or product to reflect the new or changing interests?

Realizing members of your team or your team leaders may not be the ones that can deliver against expectations and quickly and decisively making the tough choices and hard changes to get the right team on that business field to win the game?

All of these, of course, define nimble.

Small businesses live nimble…they have to…it’s life and death if they don’t.

Big businesses tend to lose nimble…it’s a natural step in the evolution of bureaucracy…nimble is replaced by lethargy.  The quick and decisive movement of the small business is replaced by the lethargic and stodgy processes of the big business.

Many big businesses today mask the lethargy by claiming innovation, yet the innovation requires intensely formal investigation and review before a “quick” decision can be made.

That’s not nimble.

The victor on today’s business battlefield will be the truly nimble warriors who innovate on the fly and quickly adapt their arsenal and personnel to put the right force to bear against the right business target at the right time to achieve maximum business battlefield success.

That’s nimble.

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It’s so simple to affirm.

And yet so many of us fail to do it frequently enough to encourage or motivate our team members.

For something so easy to do and something we’re all free to do as much as we feel comfortable doing, we sure don’t do it enough.

Accomplishments are happening all the time, at home, at work, in life.

Each accomplishment could be affirmed, bringing a smile to the one that accomplished and providing motivation and incentive for that accomplishment to be the first of many.

In the coming days, intensely look for opportunities where you can affirm someone else.  Acknowledge something that was accomplished (even something very small) and watch how that ignites further action, further accomplishment, and further excitement from the individual that was affirmed.

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Our democratic governor elect announced these priorities tonight:

• spend less
• reduce the state government
• focus on small business growth
• no new taxes
• lure new business to the area

For a minute I was wondering who I was listening to.

Then I realized that most of our country wants these very things.

Could we be close to moving towards the middle and leaving the extremes behind?

I hope so.

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The colors in the sky this morning were spectacular, and I once again thought about how awesome God is to surround us with such beauty!  Several of the pictures are shown below, accompanied by the verses that come to mind as I look at each:

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.”  — Genesis 1:14

Then God made two great lights:  the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night…God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.  — Genesis 1:16-18

When you did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence. — Isaiah 64:3

So Jesus said to them…”I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” — Matthew 17:20

My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. — Psalms 5:3

But to You I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before You. — Psalms 88:13

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This is about as good as it gets…from Josh Patterson on The Village Church blog:

I was reminded that freedom comes through sacrifice.  The freedom that you and I enjoy has been afforded to us by the blood of those who willingly laid down their lives to preserve it.  It was not free to purchase, and it is not free to maintain.  Men and women continue even now to train and fight to preserve my freedom.  This is a humbling thought.

I have done nothing to deserve freedom; rather it has been deemed an unalienable right to me based on the constitution.  What a privilege.  Such privilege should not lead to haughtiness, but humility.  The parallel here is obvious and more important:  Christ is the ultimate sacrifice bringing the greatest freedom for those least deserving.  I have done nothing to earn this freedom; it too was decreed over my wretched soul giving me new life.  Christ saved and sustains me now.

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We had a special visitor in our neighbor’s front yard yesterday:

As I walked out to get the picture, our visitor just stood and stared at me.  When I turned and went back in the house, our visitor went right back to grazing.

There’s something very appealing about grazing, stopping and staring, and then grazing again!

Many of us may be doing just that on Thanksgiving!

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