“Glorieta” by Kara Liggett

December 10

Psalms 121:1-2 “I look to the mountains; where will my help come from? My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let you fall; your protector is always awake.”

Glorieta Baptist Conference Center is located in mountains of New Mexico.  It is about 25 miles from Santa Fe.  For most of our married life (even a few years before we were married) Bill and I would travel for a week to attend conferences at the center.  Neither of us could tell you how many memories we have of this place.  The beautiful sights, the clean crisp air, the wonderful food (in Santa Fe) and the conferences we attended will forever be etched in our memories.  Sadly this last year, Glorieta Conference Center was closed due to falling interest and rising operational costs.  Kara knew how devastated we were and wrote the following article. 

“To me, Glorieta was a sort of Narnia.  It was the time when my parents ventured into the unknown and I was left with grandparents for a week to enjoy being spoiled.  I didn’t know much about the place as a child, mainly because it meant that the parents went away for what felt like a long time and my sister and I would have a week of being spoiled by my dad’s parents. 

Yes, Glorieta was the vacation of all vacations for my parents, in my eyes.  They were always rejuvenated when they arrived home from this far-away, touched-by-God’s-hand location.  I never remember seeing pictures of their Glorieta vacations, not because the locale lacked for beautiful scenery, but probably because how do you take a picture to capture an EXPERIENCE of being in a peaceful embrace of God’s speaking to your heart? I know now, as an adult, that Glorieta was to my parents what Falls Creek what to me.  An emotional get-away to experience the fellowship of likeminded Christians worshipping the Almighty God.  Glorieta was, and always will be, a memory of time alone somehow magnified even when surrounded by groups and activities, hidden in the mountainous terrain that was created by the Creator that can move mountains with a whisper.  

Just like the travelers of Narnia discovered the limits of human power when confronted with the limitless power of the Spiritual- my parents encountered the power of God in their confrontations with fellow believers from cities all over the United States.  I imagine quiet times yielded amazing revelations of God’s goodness through meditation and prayer…and I am sure that those prayers endure throughout lifetimes to come as they are suspended in the fog of the mountains of Glorieta.

Glorieta will be missed as it is now closed as a Christian retreat, but the prayers and memories that fill the campgrounds will forever endure.”