Desert Light

We recently attended a wedding in Arizona.  Our friends' daughter was married outside on the grounds of a golf course with Superstition Mountain in the background.  The weather cooperated and the event was lovely.  The light was incredible for some of the photographs I took there.

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I have had occasion to visit the area around Phoenix a few other times in the last years.  My uncle lived at Mesa before he passed a few years ago.  He took my mother and me out to Superstition Mountain to show us some of his favorite places.

Then another trip to Arizona to a wedding afforded visiting the area and traveling north to the Grand Canyon with my husband.  It was an amazing journey.

The desert blooms in its own special way.  It seems like parched land, but there is always something present that proves life.  It is a good thing to remember.  Rejoice Always, even when circumstances are telling you that death wins.  It is the great lie of the enemy.  We have, through Christ, eternal life.  We have the choice to be grateful, no matter what.  We have the ability to love because He first loved us.  There IS light in the desert, and abundant LIFE.  Praise Him!

Be Imitators of God

As we traveled the almost empty roads of Northern Michigan country we were treated with many reflections of fall foliage in lakes. Anytime I see reflections I pray that I might be looking more like Him each day. My feet walk off the path and my defiance gets me lost, until my prodigal stubborn heart again is willing to turn back from the path not of His choosing. Sometimes I don't realize I have gotten off the path until I hear some unloving thought or word come out of me.

I must say these days that it is not always love and humility being shown by Christians in the spotlight. Many times words are, embarrassingly, judgmental and arrogant. I think of the hymn verse of 'they will know we are Christians by our love.' That doesn't get conveyed when we beat folks up that don't agree with our belief.

If we boast in anything, let it be the Lord, Himself. His will, not ours, is the standard. Nobody has ever walked perfectly but One. It doesn't mean that we should quit trying to do everything unto Him; gathering grace and wisdom when we fail.

Trying to force our beliefs and choices on someone else will probably get the opposite reaction that we desire as His disciples. Sort of the reaction of 'a man convinced against His will is of the same opinion, still'. Love, humility, service; pathways of the fruits of the Spirit: those are the things of God put in us to be His Light in this world of self-will and misery.

God knows that becoming imitators of Himself takes a relationship of abandoning ourselves to Him and becoming willing to listen and follow. Nothing in the world is more worth the effort than to hear some day, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

I encourage you to go out and be imitators of God today. Smile, be joyful, and full of random acts of kindness. Walk humbly, and boast in the Lord. Let His peace rule your heart and His light shine from it.

A Time for Every Purpose

To everything there is a season...
and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Oh, how many times I have sung those words of Ecclesiastes and 'Turn, Turn, Turn' through the years!

Sometimes we hold onto old ideas or outgrown careers because it is just easier than doing the work to cross the river of fear and do something that has been calling us to a new season. Personally and professionally I want to do everything I do unto God; and it is time to stretch myself again in how He has been letting me minister through my hands as a career to more opportunities for evangelism through my photography.

I think it is awesome how God has put in each one of us a way to carry the message of His love and grace, hope and courage, to do the things we cannot do in and of ourselves. For me, it is exciting and magical to tell you how and where I took my photographs. It is easy to share God through those stories. Many photographs I shot at the time were very strong, but others did not develop into the point I was supposed to get until I revisited them later.

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This particular photograph was taken at a rest stop in Michigan. It is the first one I took. When we were landing in Detroit it appeared that all the trees were still green. I thought we had come too soon to see the colors. But not far up the road towards the Upper Peninsula God gave me a gift of seeing the foretaste of the colors to come as we continued north. These brilliant leaves had fallen down to impress upon my spirit the promise of fall foliage to come.

Doing everything unto God has the by product of true satisfaction and appreciation of what He has put in us to do. The relationship that we can have with God through Christ is a truly amazing process. He did not form us and send us out on a rudderless boat. He journeys with us and gives us wisdom if we but ask. We do not have the promise of an easy life; but we do have the promise that He will never leave us. That is the only thing standing when all else fails; knowing He goes into every day as my guide, my shepherd.

Wrappings

Since our last trip (which took us to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) I have been busy with stepping out into the world of marketing my photographs. I will keep you updated. It is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. But I know it is the path which I am to take in sharing the world of beauty God has let me see through my camera.

I was impressed more than anything by the issue of light in the scenes of Michigan. We saw so much coastline and several lighthouses. We witnessed a few at sunrise and sunset reflecting gorgeous tones of light at the bookends of the day. There were numerous rivers and lakes as well that mirrored the colors of fall foliage at their banks. I will try to get an image posted every day for awhile.

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I began thinking about the nature of wrappings. We wrap ourselves in fancy homes, coats, 600 count sheets, comfy favorite slippers and blankies; add your own wraps to the list. They are all but dirty rags when compared to how God can paint a mountain with fall foliage or add sound to layers of waterfalls. One of my favorite scriptures kept visiting me as I saw beautiful scenes such as this one at Lower Taquamenon Falls:

He wraps himself in Light...
Psalm 104:2

Changes

I love shooting butterflies, especially when they are on brilliantly colored flowers. Their lives are so short, as are the lives of the flowers they light upon. They are so incredibly stunning and graceful as they meander through the gardens.

The orange color of the center stage in this photo is such contrast to the lavender that surrounds the main attraction. I would not paint a room in my house 'orange' or wear that color on my body, but I am so appreciate it when a sky is spread with orange/coral tones or a butterfly wears it so well.

The butterfly reminded me that my high school colors were orange and black, until we consolidated with the little town down the road and the colors became black and white. Their colors were green and white, so it seemed a good compromise would be black and white; one color taken from each town. Thank goodness they did not choose green and orange together! Although a green and orange garden is gorgeous, a cheerleader outfit is not.

I think of all the changes that I have been through since those high school days. I will be 60 next year, married 40 of those years to my one and only husband. We have married daughters and four grandchildren. I can feel the season of changes as we go towards retirement and I have been getting nudges to chase yet a few more dreams.

Our bodies deteriorate, and we are but vapors; not really having many more days in the scheme of things than the butterflies or flowers that fade so quickly. In the life to come we will put on immortality. There is such fleeting beauty here, yet it draws us to it as we are drawn also to God. Beautiful beyond description!

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We shall all be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:52

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