Letter from Jason — June 2017

Dear Honey Run Friends,

When my family cleaned out my grandparents’ house in Florida a few years ago, one of the keepsakes included all the weekly sermons my grandfather wrote as a Lutheran Minister during his career. These sermons average five half pages of typed text, and each are in a small stapled booklet. These sermons fill a plastic bin that is 16 inches wide and 24 inches long. As I looked at a forty-year career reduced to a plastic bin I realized the overwhelming accomplishment and gift of his service was not the twenty-minute sermons each week, but it was his time counseling people during rough periods in their life or visiting sick and dying church members at the hospital.

As I was looking through his life’s work, it made me think about the hours I dedicate each day to my work. I certainly am no minister, and I know I don’t come close to helping others as he did. However, I hope that in a small way my life’s work is in providing all our guests a small peaceful refuge from the world. I have come to know some of you personally, and I observe many more of you as you relax in the lobby or walk the trails. Looking at one’s legacy is daunting. You never know how history will judge you. You have hopes and an idea in your own head, but how does everyone perceive you from their perspective? At the end of the day, it is my desire to hopefully make a difference in the lives of those I encounter during my career and lifetime. I fail at this regularly, but with each day, there is hope for improvement.

I love what I do, and when we are blessed with the team to accomplish our tasks, this job is extremely rewarding. There are terrible times of stress and overwhelming workloads, but there are seasons of rest and reflection that remind me why I wanted to become an innkeeper. The best reward for me is hearing from all of you about how The Inn at Honey Run has had a positive impact in your life — more than a resort and retreat, but an active participant in your relationship bonding, soul reviving, spirit healing, time away from your demanding life. I hope someday as my family looks through my “plastic bin” of work from my career they will see the smiles of thousands of you and read the life changing notes so many of you leave behind for us to share in your story.

Thank you for allowing me to be a small participant in your life journey and giving my vocation meaning.

Jason