A Green Soda Can

   This morning I was looking back at some of my pictures, ones that I took on last Sunday at the pier in the early morning. It was easy to relive that scene all over again with the various people that came out to see the sunrise. It was indeed a vibrant beginning to that day.

   Remembering the sunlight on the pier, almost deserted in that time, but alive in that early color scheme that a sunrise paints on everything it touches.

   Then I see another picture, and I think about the difference in what I saw there:

   A splash of color in a gray landscape. A hint of brightness in a sea of ordinary.

   I thought of how I had noticed it, sitting alone on the table where men had cut bait, or cleaned fish as they went about preparing or ending their fishing experience the night before. A cheap can of soda, emptied no doubt as a refreshing part of the night's work, but making a new impact at that moment.

   I thought about the other people who had ventured out onto that sunlit pier. What had their thoughts been as they walked? I'm sure some came happy and glad, but there may have been others that were moving along in a field of gray tones, not seeing what God had in store for them in the bright colors of the ocean sunrise.

   The can was there in plain view, waiting to be noticed, waiting for someone to smile and remark about it's color, and the sun beginning to brighten it, waiting for an individual to be jostled from their black and white and mostly gray spirit to a world of color.

   Can God use a discarded empty can of Chek cola to speak to a person who needs a good word? Sure, and I realize again that He can use me, too, if I am available to His urging.

   Look around at the world, see those people in need and at least be willing to let the light of God's love reflect off you to those who need it.

   If a green can can do it, I can too.

Sunrise Revisited

   A haunting question stays with me from yesterday. Even though I did feel that God wanted me to open my eyes to the beauty all around me in that sunrise hour, and I am sure that it was right to do so, was there more that I should have noticed, or, if I noticed, do something for or about?

   I took all my shots from the pier that juts out into the Sound from the Village area of St. Simons. When I got there, well before dawn, there were only two people on that pier, one looking at his smart phone and the other mending his crab net. I spoke to both and went on my way out to where I could get an unobstructed view of the lighthouse, which was my focal point.

   As I shot and watched the progress of the sunrise, I interacted with several others who came to see that special part of the day. There were:

   An older couple who just sat and waited for the sun to come up

   A Mother and daughter, I presume, who were taking pictures also, of the sun and each other

   Another couple who sat and talked and then took some IPad pictures

   A fisherman, who moved to the other end of the area and set up his gear

   A county patrolman, who came out to take a shot to email back to his wife who was in Virginia

   I noticed all of these, but was so busy looking for the perfect shot, that they were just there, not important at all. But were they? Did God send them my way for a reason?

   Sure, I talked to each one, was nice and acknowledged their presence, but my stuff was too important to let them get in the way.

   It was a Sunday morning, and each of those others were out there to reflect in the beauty of that moment in time. As I reflected later yesterday, I realized that my shot settings on the camera and getting the lighting correct, were the important things to me.

   When my agenda is more important than the people around me, then my priorities are out of whack.

   So, even though I did get some good pictures, I probably lost the opportunity to show several people that they were important, maybe more important than my camera, and that was probably not God's agenda.

   I said yesterday that God told me to open my eyes and see, but there was more than the colored sky and the ball of fire rising out of the ocean, there were real live people out there.

   The sun will come up another day, and I might be there to see it, but those particular people may not ever cross my path again, and I failed to pay attention.

   Rats!

   Maybe I don't only need to open my eyes, but see through God's as well.

Sometimes Things Happen

   Sometimes when I get up early, like I did this morning, I look for answers to some problem or concern, or I look for a course of action that will be right. It is easier for me to think and pray when there is little distraction, and the concentration just comes.

   But these times do not always produce the answer or a clear path to follow. The way is still murky and out of focus, and I am concerned that I have not heard what I sought.

   Then there comes the admonition: Just look around, open your eyes and see.

   So, I did this morning and here is what I was confronted with:

Is the way still a little murky, and are the concerns still there? Sure they are, but they don't seem as significant and troublesome as before.

I thank God for eyes to see and time to spend looking.

Now, to quote a Nike commercial "Just Do It"

Pride and Restoration

   While we were passing through Eufaula, AL a few weeks ago, we made a stop and I took some shots of older homes on the main street. Most of these were well kept up and currently lived in, but there was one that looked like this:

   One day, back in the past, this home was probably the pride and joy of someone, but it had evidently fallen on some hard times. I don't know its history, but it appeared to have been abandoned and become run down from neglect. Someone must have bought it and begun the restoration, perhaps with the idea of making their residence in that neighborhood.

   What had once been someone's pride was now an eyesore in a neighborhood of beautiful homes. If that house had feelings, it must have been crying, and maybe saying, "Hey, you look at me now and feel sad, just like I do, but once I was proud and beautiful, and people drove by and pointed with respect. Once I was something, but now...., well perhaps again one day"

   Can this verse, from Psalm 31, fit in here?

"The Lord preserves the faithful
but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride."

   Pride is a subtle thing. It is very easy to let it be a dominant force in your life, or mine.

   Pride in what I have......remember that it is God that gives the blessings

   Pride in what I can do or have done......remember that God gives the strength and abilities

   Even pride in servanthood......ever felt pride in being humble?

   I am often there. Someone can say, "I like what you wrote", or "Your pictures have such feeling", or any other compliment about my life, and I can puff up and feel real good about myself, and what I can do. Then I have to stop and think about why I do these things. Is it to impress others or does it go deeper?

   Some times I fear it's pretty shallow, but at other times I get the feeling that God wants me to share my story and thoughts with others, not so I might be praised, but so that they (whoever "they" are) might have an "aha moment", or at least be able to say "that is me, also".

   I realize, with the Psalmist, that God's repayment of acts of pride may not be fun, and that my life may take on the appearance of that old Alabama house, but God can bring the restoration and make it beautiful again.

   I confess, and I ask for forgiveness, and another chance at usefulness.

 

Day, Night and Light

   These verses from John 9 this morning:

"We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

   Then these from Psalm 37:

"The Lord knows the days"

   Maybe it was just because I have been looking for an excuse to use this picture of a light:

   but, the ideas of my days, night and light seem to come together as I walked this morning.

   The gist of the Psalm 37 passage is that God knows all of my days, those that I have lived, but also those that are left in this life. I can't know how many or how few are allotted to me, and my responsibility is to live them in such a way that He is glorified and that others are blessed. Since I cannot know how many future days there are, the only day that I can work in is the one that I am living inside right now. Today is that day. Use it wisely.

   Jesus says in that John 9 passage that I need to work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work. Night is the time when my eyes are closed, either in sleep or in death. I can't work if I can't see, and that is why it is imperative that I do His work while those daylight hours are available. Again, it is the use of the lighted hours, corresponding to those days I have, that need to be used rightly.

   It is hard for me to do much work with the help of that light I pictured. That night light is good for pushing back some of the darkness, but for detailed work, it is just inadequate.

   Jesus says that He is the Light, and His light is what I need to see clearly how to use this day that I have been given.

   When I was 40 or 50 or even 60, it seemed like there were still a lot of days out in front of me, but I could not know. How many opportunities were missed to serve because I did not live fully the day that I was given? I wonder, but can't dwell too long on that.

   I have this day and I need to use it, and I need to use the proper light source.

   God helping me, I pray.

Auto Focus or Manual?

   I read this in Psalm 28 this morning:

"The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;"
   Sometimes I think that God has allowed me to have this photography hobby in my life to point out lessons that I need to learn. Lessons of life and trust and humility, and not just those of taking good pictures.

   Yesterday my post was all about things I saw in someone else's backyard and I used a few shots that I had seen there, and I enjoyed doing that, even though any great relevance to life was missing. I was just fun for me, both the taking and the posting of those pictures.

   Then, in the afternoon, Mayre and I went to walk on the beach. Most of the Labor Day tourists had departed for home, so I took my camera, just in case something popped up that looked interesting. I took some shots, but with the sun and the water and the sand, it just seemed better to take them on auto focus rather that do all of that myself.

   I had read, and others had told me also, that good photographers use the manual focus mode to frame and compose their shots, rather than relying on the features of the camera, so I have been trying to use that and to do the work myself.

   I shot away but had the feeling that something was not quite right. Even though I had decided because of the light factors that I would use the auto focus mode, I did not feel that the camera was operating correctly. It was difficult to see, after taking and reviewing the shot, if I was getting the sharp focus that I wanted..

   But I kept on, and it was not until we got back into the car and I got ready to put the camera away, that I realized that, even though I had changed the mode to auto, I had not changed the lens to auto focus. It was still in manual, and I had tried to take all those shots on auto when the lens would not allow me to do it. My trust was in the mode, but I had kept it from operating because I had kept the control of the process for myself.

   How that is like my life a lot of the time. I want to let God take over and do it, but I keep the control in my own hands. Then I realize that it is not working and He has to remind me again why.

   So there I go again, messing it up and wondering then realizing why.

   Too soon old and too late smart.

   Help me to trust and rely on You, God and not on my own manual controls.

Life in the Backyard

   Yesterday some friends invited us over for supper and games. Before we left home to go, they called again and said to be sure to bring the camera. They had spotted a large spider in the backyard and thought it might make a good photo.

   We did and it was and here it is, a writing spider:

   While I was out in their yard, I decided to see what else might be worthy of some attention, and here are some of the things I found.

   Something needs to be cleaned, I guess:

   A clock, not for telling time but for decoration:

   A bench that looks lonely:

   A cherub waiting for a visit:

   A watering can, not used for watering:

   A toucan decorating a palm tree:

   And the sunset as I ran out of light to do more:

   All in all, a good time, along with great food and a competitive game.

   A fun way to end the 2013 Labor Day.