Variations on a Theme and Beyond

It seemed last year as if my photography literally took off 52 weeks ago when starting an e-course by Kim Klassen, Beyond Layers.  Sadly, it has come to an end...

But...now we are on to a new journey, Beyond Beyond, which I'll be sharing with you over the next year.

Week 1 - Take a series of photographs of a setting, from different angles, perspectives, etc.  Pay attention to each photograph with intention.

Stealing an idea from the infamous Viv Halliwell of Desktop Dreams, I'm going to digitally journal my assignments, so I can print them into a scrapbook at the end of the year.

Here's my result from this week:

paper from Teri Hanson's Serenity kit; frames from Katie Pertiet

I made a still using a cup I bought as a prop from TJMaxx, a stone heart from our pediatric palliative care retreat last summer, a few peachy-coral carnations from a boquet Edster got me for my birthday last week, an inexpensive, heart-shaped glass vase from Pat Catan's, and Julia Cameron's wonderful book, The Prosperous Heart: Creating a Life of Enough.

Additionally...

Kim shared her recent thoughts about being present...

And asked us to consider the following:

• Did you enjoy the challenge, did you discover anything new about yourself, why is your favourite your favourite? What do you love most about it?
• Was it difficult to find time for the exercise, did you feel rushed…..
• Consider printing a small version of your fav and taping/gluing it inside your journal.

I did enjoy the challenge...very much.  I loved the colors and how so many items tied together.  I loved the different angles and then the creative rush that comes as I process them.  (I'll show you my favorite at the end.)

I did feel rushed...in fact, I feel rushed most of the time.  I still recall Anythony Hopkins, playing C. S. Lewis in the movie, Shadowlands (A MUST SEE), "We live in the shadowlands.  Always wanting to be somewhere else...around the next bend...over the next hill." 

The problem with that is...we don't live where we are...in the moment...in the now...seeing the abundant mercies of God He has lavished on us today, right now...

I am tempted, working full time, to want to rush the week away to the weekend.  It is the weekend when I have more flexibility to create, do indoor shooting (more light), do more writing, spending unscheduled time with my husband, dogs, and in solitude with my Savior.

And yet...even on the weekends...I feel this rush.  Hurry...you may not fit everything in by the time Monday comes around again,says the Committee in my head.  (Sidenote:  This "committee" in my head is a recent epiphany which I'll write more about in future postings.)

As I write this, I'm feeling this pressure to get outside and take some snow photos, since it is the weekend and I have daylight available.  And yet...it keeps me from being totally present in my writing right now.  STOP IT!

Edster and I were going to go down to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to do some photography today...

And there was discussion of possibly going to a matinee...

But his neuralgia pain from his 14 knee surgeries flares up horrendously with the bitter cold, and he's had to be off of his feet most of the day.

So he lays on the bed, I'm propped up with pillows sitting next to him with Arthur and Bruno on the bed as well...and my one camera with the 300mm lens beside me where I've captured some photos of birds that have shown up at the feeders...

I may do a still shot later...

Edster and I may walk the neighborhood with the dogs and camera if his knee feels better...

But whatever...it is enough...I am present, I'm relishing in just having unscheduled, unfettered time...embracing (there's that word) so much right where I am, right now!

So here is my favorite shot...

Why?  I like the light...the kind of painterly, scratch effect...I used Kim's texture called "Italy" in my processing.

So I embrace today...whatever it holds...knowing that no matter what...God's gifts are mine.  And all is as it should be.

A Week of Quotes and Words - Day Two

The inspired word for Day 2 was the word, "peace." That word conjours up a myriad of images and thoughts.  It brings to mind sights, sounds, places I've known, a state of being, and most of all, thoughts that either help or hinder peace in my life.

From the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning, it's off to the races in my work at the hospital.  I have more "to do's" than I can fit in a day with competing priorities.  And if I stayed until all was complete, I would never leave.  And another word comes to mind:  enough.  What is enough?

Then I came across this quote as I ponder the word "peace."



I am only responsible for what I can accomplish in the day and that must be enough, as long as I have done my best.  We are all given only 24 hours in a day and each are given varied responsibilities from God to accomplish what He brings our way.  No more, no less.  And He stands vigil while we rest in His peace to be renewed for the next day.

As I continued my contemplation of the word "peace," it saddened me to realize how little peace there is in our lives.  As for me, I am always conneccted - either by pager, by cell phone, by computer, by cable news, by ongoing stimulation.  I would not say that I am a loner, but I do know that I find the greatest peace in solitude.  Or is it that I need the solitude to maintain my peace?  Often when I take time to slow down, disconnect, and get off the merry-go-round of dailyness, I am able to see more clearly the gifts and mercies God has lavished on me multiple times each day.  The clamour and demands and distractions of every day (don't even get me started on polarized political discourse that abounds), oppress my spirit, knowing Jesus has modeled what I need to do as reflected in multiple places in the Gospels.  Jesus, the God Man, needed to withdraw to a solitary place to commune with His Father.  How much more do I, a fallible, imperfect soul, need to do this?  How can I see from His perspective, if I never take time out to look at Him?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face.  And the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Without this discipline, peace will continue to elude and the din of life will continue to oppress.  And so I see the mercy, the gift, of being welcomed into the solitude of contemplation and time alone with the Lover of my soul.



With gratitude,

Just Be

Early May...Spring clearly here...I walked out onto the deck and ventured to the pond on our vacation rental.  There had been much hard rain overnight and the water was somewhat of a murky brown.  There on the surface, I saw this green, solitary leave...dappled with waterdrops.  Just floating, just being.

How do I just "be"...be still...be a presence...be enough?  So many times my mind is racing so fast and I am caught up in endless activity...and when I am trying to have downtime, I still feel the need to be "doing" something.  How much do I miss because I don't stop?  What lessons do I not learn because I'm occupied?  And how many times do I do fumble the ball and cause damage trying to fix something by inadvertentlyy saying something stupid, rather than just be a presence for someone who is going through a difficult time?

My camera slows me down.  Writing slows me down.  But often, especially in my work world, I am more of a Martha vs. a Mary person.  And even if my body isn't flying around...my thoughts are.  And I know I am not alone.  Even in the quiet, I'm thinking about a to do list or on the weekend thinking about what I need to do on Monday.  My thoughts ruminate and I get stuck.  And then I wonder, "Where is God?"  In essence, wondering why I do not feel close to him.  A perfect passage explains it in I Kings 19 how often God comes in a whisper that we cannot hear because we do not stop to listen...not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.

I've come to believe that living fully in the present is a spiritual discipline.  It is my responsibility.  C. S. Lewis  paraphrases in the movie,  Shadowlands, about a painting he had in his nursery:  "We live in the shadowlands. Sun is always shining somewhere else... around a bend in the road... over the brow of a hill."  Eluding to how we are always wanting to be somewhere else other than where we are.  And yet, as a Christian, we are to be as children, just delighting in NOW.  Later in the movie, C. S. Lewis comes across the actual place in the nursery painting and says to his new wife, Joy:

You know, I don't want to be somewhere else anymore.
I'm not waiting for anything new to happen...
not looking around the next corner and over the next hill.
I'm here now. That's enough.

- That's your kind of happy, isn't it? (Joy)

Yes. Yes, it is.

I want to live as God has made me to live...to delight in Him...I'm here now. That's enough.

With gratitude,