Mountain Strong: When Your Thing is Learning OUTRAGEOUS Hospitality

I hate goodbyes. Who doesn’t? But I really, really hate leaving our happy place at the YMCA of the Rockies. Ask the Littles.

At the end of the summer, when it’s time for us to pack up and head home, I cry. Not the big, ugly cry, just a weepy I dontwannaleave cry. I sound like a broken record leading up to our departure, “do we have to go?” And, of course we do.

Leaving Colorado yesterday was hard. My heart aches for friends and the community we love as the reality of the floods continues. Coming home to routine and normal feels surreal.

I took this photo yesterday just before we left Estes Park. Barefoot in the frost, I stood on the picnic table on our deck at Serendipity Cabin. I’ve seen glorious Colorado sunrises before, but God was showing off with this one. I posted the picture on instagram and my mother commented, “He did this just for you.” That’s a very mother-like thing to say, but I felt it. In the aftermath of the Colorado flood, God was reminding me and everyone else,

“I’ve got this. I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Because I AM.”

If God is the ultimate headmaster, I believe he employs the mountains as his front line professors. The mountains teach. And I learned a lot in the Rockies these past few days.

Being Mountain Strong taught me a lesson in hospitality. Hospitality? It may sound surprising, until you know that I’ve been planning to join The Nester and a huge community of writers in the 31 Days of blogging series. My topic? 31 Days of Outrageous Hospitality.

God placed me in exactly the right place at the right time to teach me about hospitality before we spend the month of October digging deeper into the topic.

A few days ago I wrote about serving others by doing your thing. I remain in awe of how the community of Estes Park united together, each person contributing to the flood relief efforts by “doing their thing.”

I’m home now, and it’s time for me to do my thing.

Will you join me for 31 Days of Outrageous Hospitality? Be sure to sign up to receive the series posts via email beginning tomorrow, October 1st.

I’m excited to see what we’ll learn together about Outrageous Hospitality!

Love,