The other day my wife and I took a hot air balloon ride. It was our first time in a balloon and we had a wonderful time. When you are the pilot of a balloon your only controls are how much heat to apply and how much air to vent. I learned in most cases the what you do now effects where you will be 15 seconds in the future, the rest is up to the wind currents.
On our trip we tried to land a couple of times before we finally found a good spot. One of the attempts to land the pilot made the decision that we should not land and blasted the heat to get lift, but we still descended and eventually hit ground scraping through a few rows of corn before we shot up from the heat applied before.
I was reminded that there are times when we will go down no matter how much effort we apply. But, that effort will carry you through the low spots and you will eventually be lifted up. The other side of that is while you are up you know you have to keep looking for the spot to land so you can be grounded again; no one can sustain the heights forever.
While that may sound like a downer, I think there is great wisdom to be found. Everyone needs time to rest and reflect on what they have done and where they would like to be next. I think we can all agree life is full of ups and downs. While the ups tend to get the glory we should also embrace the down times.
