Three seconds — that’s the average lifespan of a CO2 bubble in a flute of champaign. To North American humans with a life expectancy of eighty years, that seems infinitesimal, but during the short trip from formation to surfacing, that bubble catches and reflects the light. It sparkles and shimmers, creating the atmosphere that separates the champaign experience from everyday wine.

Geology, on the other hand, runs on the opposite time scale. The material for the Rocky Mountains was formed in the caldron of the Earth’s core more than eighty-five million years ago, and due to the ongoing tectonic shoving match just a few miles beneath our feet, that material got wedged up through the crust and formed a spectacular landmark.

Can you imagine what Pike’s Peak is thinking about all those hikers trapsing up and down it’s trails? Like the CO2 bubble, our lifetime is a twinkling of an eye compared to that mountain, and here we are thinking we’ve conquered it by walking to the top.

My Friend Tim
About a week ago, I attended the funeral of an old friend who made it to seventy-five before the wear and tear of life on Earth won the fight. He darn-near reached the full eighty years that statisticians afford us.

My friend was an astute and gifted entrepreneur with a nose for voids and a knack for filling them with services that turned a tidy profit. His work ethic and persistence paid off, but in the end, only the dead carcass of a body he’d inhabited here on Earth filled that wooden box. My friend had moved on from our current dress rehearsal to the opening night of the big show. His well-earned money stayed here while he went on ahead with no more need for it.

But most important, my friend had spent a lifetime enjoying and elevating people. He dearly loved to meet new people, and tell them his stories, and listen to their stories, and laugh about life together. My friend had figured it out — in that short four-score span from conception to transformation, he learned how to reflect the light and grace he’d been given in order to make life better for those around him. That was his true gift.

Maybe you’re at the middle of life like that rising CO2 bubble, or maybe you’re nearing the top of the flute, but there are no guarantees. The world has a way of unexpectedly taking a sip out of the champaign and cutting short our sure-fire plans. But there’s still plenty of light to be reflected and there’s no time for doing that like the here and now. After all, you are here, now.

Have a great day my friends, but more important, make sure someone else has an even better day than they were expecting.

A meeting of great minds who think alike