It's been a minute...

Two weeks ago I spent 7 days out in Bozeman, Montana with a mission team consisting of members from my church and another local church with whom we partnered. We were able to spend the week serving locally in the city of Bozeman. We were jacks of all trades: cleaning gutters, painting a condo, doing yard work, organizing and filing, repainting picnic tables, installing bathroom tile... I don't say this to brag or boast. Anyone who has been on a mission trip probably knows how this goes. We were there to serve, and we had incredible opportunities to do so in various places across the city. God used this.

We also had incredible opportunities to hike and sight see. We spent a day at Yellowstone National Park, and spent another evening hiking in the mountains up to Fairy Lake (pictured above). Something about those surreal colors, incredible landmarks, and unbelievably beautiful sights gave me a whole new appreciation for the creation of God. I have always loved the mountains and the beach. Maybe it's because they are so different from my normal midwest views. But seeing views like that, beauty like that, makes me wonder how anyone could ever look at this world and think it just happened into existence. It's too precise, too beautiful, too crafted. God used this, too.

All that being said, getting back into the normal grind when we got back led way into missing a blog post the week of the trip and the week after. The week of the mission trip, I sat down to write this blog post on Wednesday evening, as usual. But conversations abounded among the other trip goers, and I realized that I didn't want to miss the opportunity. What I realized in that moment (and throughout the trip) is that the work will always be there. But the opportunities, the relationships, the conversations won't be. I don't consider myself a workaholic. But I am a hard worker, and I know that at times, work has taken priority over other things. I certainly believe that there is a time and place for this to be so. But I also am learning that there is a time that it's ok to say no, to live in the moment, to pour in your relationships, to serve and love better by being present. And I have zero regrets about not writing this post that night. Because I got to pour into relationships and into that mission trip in a way that I wouldn't have been able to do by staring at my computer all evening long. Most of all, I think God used this. Like the story of Mary and Martha, sometimes we (I) must learn the power of being over the power of doing.

Please enjoy my iPhone photo attempts to capture the beauty we saw that week: