My, my, how the week just gets away. April slipped out while I was busy with other things and now it’s a full week since I had the good fortune to be here.

And here.

And here.

Compared to many of you, I’m sure, I have lived a very sheltered life close to home. It’s not for want of desire to travel. As a child I was wildly jealous of my best friend and her frequent travels to places beyond our small town. She summered in these mountains at a camp called Cheley. You can see it here if you look hard.

Don’t see it?

She spent her summers riding horses (something else I longed to do, as all girls do at some point) through this landscape.

Now, I love my state. I could never live in Colorado because of the water factor. It’s hard enough living in mid-Michigan when you grew up with sailboats and freighters and seagulls and drawbridges. But I understand why Colorado sucks people in.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by this?

And this.

And this.

And this.

It is fantastically beautiful, inspiring us to stop and reflect on our own cosmic insignificance — were we not made by the same creative and loving hand as each of those mountains. Yet we are known as intimately and cherished as closely. The same God who caused the earth to push up Long’s Peak…

…causes the earth to push up the mountain crocus.

He bids us leave our homes, get out of our cars, get off our duffs, and start to climb.

He calls us to seek higher ground, not for safety’s sake, but so that we can see the world closer to His vantage point.

He calls us to love and care for this incredible planet, and for all of the living things He put here for our enjoyment and education and inspiration.

And to pass that love and sense of responsibility down to our wide-eyed children.

He calls us to notice the shade of the dirt…

…the sound of the river…

…and the chaotic flight of the swallows.

My first trip to the Rocky Mountains was entirely too short. But I will be back, with husband and son in tow. Because beauty like this is meant to be shared.