Maybe A New Stage?

   For the past few months, I have tried to follow almost everyone's advice and stay busy. Playing golf, tennis, bike riding, walking a lot, just attempting to fill the hours in the day with something constructive.

   Let's not say that this feeling is an everyday thing, but a lot of time it is. There must be some halfway productive things that I can do.

   Thinking back on some things that I used to enjoy doing, I notice my camera bag sitting in the closet on the floor, lonely I think. Realizing that I used to go out a lot and practice shooting various scenes and locales, but had not in quite awhile, why not put some productive activity into my schedule.

   I had read an article in the paper about the full moon that we were experiencing in these days and thought, "why not?". I've got the time for sure.

   On the way to the beach last evening, I had a good feeling, like I was about to do something. Perhaps not great, but way better than nothing.

   My neighbor and I had been talking outside the other night about shooting moon shots at night, and I had written down the things he reminded me of. So, before setting out, I dialed in the settings he suggested and took a sticky note with some other items to do when I got to my spot.

   I set up and the moon came up.

   Playing with the camera a little bit, I got these shots, and I remembered why I had enjoyed this hobby.

   The moon had arisen out of the ocean on the eastern horizon and a cloud cooperated by giving some color and texture to the pictures.

   That moon is right in the full stage and should be that way as it exits the sky in the morning, I thought, so I got up early to catch it going down.

   It definitely was not the same kind of shot. The moon at 5 am was high in the sky, a bright shining white light in a somewhat cloudy setting.

   Like this:

   A faint bit of color which produced shots such as these.

   But my most important discovery was that just trying to stay busy is not a panacea to fits of loneliness.

   Going back and finding joy in something that you used to love is a way out of useless movement.

   Realizing what you had been overlooking was a surprising result.

   God cooperated with a fabulous moon, all I had was to get up off my chair and go.

   And I wonder, what else in my closet is calling my name?

   Also wondering what else will stir me out of this funk I've been absorbed with. God may be saying:

  "Look around at My world, enjoy this creation, perhaps by interacting with it, you may see more than just yourself."

   And I pray that this is so...

But Even If He Does Not...

   Walking down the beach, or up if you prefer that direction, this morning, greeting the few that were out early with a "Good Morning", I thought about those folks out there, like I was.

   What were they thinking?

   What were they looking forward to today, or maybe even dreading it?

   I thought of the word "anticipation" and I found a meaning:

"realization in advance; foretaste."

   It seems to me, as I think about it, that there is little neutral in the word. It is either a happy thought or one of impending doom. There is little middle ground in anticipation.

   When I woke this morning early, my thoughts were on anticipation, and they were happy. It is great to have some events, be they near or far away, that you can smile as you think of them. It does not mean that they will happen as you foresee,  just that the foretaste can be good in your mouth, or, in this case, in your dreams.

   If your foresight turned out to be on target, all is well, and you can revel in successes in accomplishment, or in life in general.

   But what happens if your dreams of glory are dashed in disaster?

   What if, in spite of your anticipation, your dreams go up in ashes, what do you think then?

   Could you react like the three Israelite men in Daniel Chapter 3 as they replied to the king:

"17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

   Is my faith so fragile that I cannot take disappointment or loss? Even if He does not come through as I planned He would, can I pray "Thy Will Be Done"?

   Do I rely on the fact that His Mercies are new every morning and His Grace covers my whole life?

   Do I greet the new day with an anticipation, that whatever happens in this day, I can still pray for His Will to be Done?

   If I can live in light of that fact, my life will reveal Him, and it will be that my worries will turn to ashes and not my dreams.

 

   

One Sunday in August

   We live on an Island.

   But for a long time, I did not appreciate the beach. Now, suddenly, the beach at break of day is my favorite place to be.

   It is dark when I arrive this morning.

   The lifeguard's chair is empty and waiting.

   I find that an lot of emotions take place in my heart on these early morning walks. They seem to see me coming and line up to march alongside me as the new day begins.

   There is Thanksgiving:

   Thankful that God has watched over me, that He has made His mercies new every morning, that He allows me to meet him in the quiet stillness of this early hour, that He quiets my soul and gives me peace and strength.

   There is some Sorrow also:

   A friend gave me a bracelet that represents a daughter in law that has cancer, and I pray for that girl and her whole family. She just represents a whole host of folks that are suffering through trials right now, and I feel a certain empathy for all of them.

   But there is also Love:

   I follow a double set of tracks down the beach, people I assume walking together.

   And then I spot them ahead of me, sharing a hand, just being together on the beach.

   Someone else was planning ahead.

   And I think fondly of people who have shared a hand with me in the past, and the present, and will in the future. Hands of help, of strength, and, yes, of love. People who have walked alongside and shared their lives with mine. It is another thing to be grateful for.

   There is also the emotion of Hope.

 

   Hope in the very day that sun represents. Hope in the days that lie out in the future. God is in control. I am not walking my path in the dark and alone.

 

   Yes, the world goes on around me, but I pause in it's midst to think about where I have been, and where I am right now, physically and emotionally, and I smile.

   And I think of the song that I talked about in my last post...

   My Great God Cares For Me

   He even leaves me a couple of tangible reminders:

   Resources for the journey (even a dime will help)

   And a live reminder of prayer with this guy.

   From Thanksgiving to Sorrow to Love and to Hope....and then back around to Thanksgiving again.

   I am Blessed