To get to the location of the leadership retreat required a four-hour drive, the last five miles or so on narrow, rocky dirt roads. The first 70 miles from my house were interstate. What started as wide, smooth and fast roads finished with narrow, bumpy and slow. I believe we find ourselves on a variety of roads in life and it is often not the “better” roads that are the most rewarding. And it is sometimes the ones that are the most challenging that we encounter right before we get to where we are intended to be.

As the road conditions varied, ranging from interstate highway to interstate speed farm-to-market roads, to “main street USA” in the center of small towns, to narrow, caliche roads, so too did the ability (the requirement!) to notice conditions, twists and turns, forks in the road and the character of where I was at the moment. Sounds like life.

Along the journey, I saw wonderful old houses, main street shops, old barns that could tell great stories if they could verbalize instead of sharing via the signs of age. I changed pace from 80 miles per hour to 30, as allowed or required. Life works that way, too. 80 was getting me to my destination faster, but 30 let me see people, places and things. The route went through city life, into small town life and into the country where the population of cows, goats, sheep and wildlife vastly outnumbered human population, a diversity of inhabitants that was comforting and reminded me of the abundance of life and in life.

The weekend retreat was magnificent. The drive there and back was enlightening.

It pays for us to get off the highway, slow down, feel a little less confident about where we are going, and notice what is around us in life in order for us to fully appreciate where we are in life’s journey and all that is around us in the moment.