A Morning Progression

   Yesterday, up early and on my way to put on the coffee for church, I realized that sunrise was not till 7AM, and, if I got in and did the coffee thing right then, I could catch a colorful moment in the area behind the church property. So I did.

   It was still night and fairly dark when I arrived.

   The birds were singing like it was Spring, the air was still and the gnats were not up and about yet. In the midst of waiting for the sky to lighten, I sensed movement off to my left side. I had my camera on the tripod, so I quickly altered my position on the viewing platform, pointed the camera toward the north and shot. I knew that if there was something out there, I might be able to lighten the scene in the computer and see it close up.

   I figured it was one of the fallow deer that lived in the area around the church. Sure enough, I saw a brown shadow coming out of the marsh and making his way toward the middle of the lot about 100 yards away. A close inspection of this dark shot will show a brown male deer close to the middle of the picture.

   Although the shot did not turn out too well, here is what I had seen.

   Then as the deer moved back into the marsh area, the sun began to peek over Sea Island, and the real day was beginning.

   What a morning to be alive!

   There is an older hymn that I recalled: When Morning Guilds the Skies, beginning like this:

  When morning gilds the skies

 my heart awakening cries:  
 May Jesus Christ be praised! 

   What a way for a Sunday, or any day, to begin.

   Thankful to be alive.
 

 

Posing Pete

   A photo that I took the other day came to my mind this morning:

   The brown pelican, the one I named "Posing Pete" because of his unflappable attitude toward those people on the pier the other day who crowded around him with their cameras, is a complex creation. In reading about how he mates, how he lives, the way his body is acclimated to his environment, his eyesight that allows him to see his food in the water, and all the other ways that God has given him his place in our world, I am amazed of the complexity of this bird.

   But it is not just this one feathered creature, it is all through the created order. All of the other flora and fauna of this world are amazing. And it is not just this earth, it is the universe beyond, too. All planned by God for something, a lot of which man does not even realize yet.

   God's plans, His Story, one already written that is playing out in my world right now.

   In reading Genesis 50 this morning, the continuing story of Joseph and his brothers, Joseph speaks to them:

"Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart."

   God had a plan, Joseph saw it in hindsight and realized a part of it that had taken place right where he lived, but the brothers did not, and continually worried about their fate because of their actions.

   Pete was not visibly worried about the things that went on around him. His eyes were open.

   God has a plan for me also. Without knowing the whole story line or the ending, I can live in my own little place, in my moment, and trust Him.

   The complexities of the world are many, but they are all in His plan.

   I see Pete and wonder.....What does he see?

The Light Is There

   What do I want in my life most of all?

   Even as a flawed individual, and subject to the whims of human nature, it comes to me that I want to have God's guidance in my life. Right now, in this quiet time, today in my schedule, and in the rest of my life, as long as it lasts.

   When I sit down this morning and begin to pray, I put down all the areas of my life that I want to have His guidance in for just this day, including this early quiet time. I put down 5 items on a quick list to tape to my computer, so that I will not forget to get them done. These 5 things involve other people that I will, Lord willing, interact with today in some way, and I want to remember those obligations that I have signed on for. I want to hear from God first of all, and I do not want the things on my schedule to interfere with that priority, so I just list them and continue on in my prayer and reading time.

   I pray for guidance in all these areas. I pray for my actions and reactions in all of them also. I pray that God will help me be the man that reflects His character and His will. I pray that I will treat all those that I come in contact with today with the respect and dignity that they deserve as fellow creations of The Heavenly Father. I pray that I might speak and act with His wisdom and not whatever is mine.

   I pray that the words that come out of my mouth will be ones uplifting and not putting down others.

   Knowing what agenda items I put on my list, but not knowing how each will play out, or if some will not even be there as the day progresses, I pray for grace in the moment. Not for me to plan it all out right now as I think of these people and situations, but His wisdom and grace at the time of contact and as these unfold.

   I pray for His presence, for this brief early time, and for a continual one in my life as it proceeds through the day. I can't know what will happen, but I can be fortified to meet each person and event with the right attitude if I know that He is still there with me.
 
   It is easy for me to get lost in the possible situations of this upcoming day, but what I need most of all is to get lost in this time with God. The other things will take care of themselves, or rather He will take me through them on His time schedule, if I but seek Him first of all.

   So, I think of a scene down at the Pier the other day. Standing on the pier itself, looking back toward the shore, I see our lighthouse just sitting there, waiting for the darkness to come when its light will be a beacon to those out on the nearby ocean. It is there all the time, but its guidance become evident as night begins to surround it.

   In the same sense, the only light that I have is the moment of time that I am living in. The rest of my day is unknown, it is dark to me, but I can rest in the thought that The Light is there and if I look for Him, He will guide me in anything and everything that will happen.

   A lofty thought and realization, now to live it out.

Limited Vision

   Last evening, we went down to the Pier area of our island and found an interesting shot...

   Not knowing how the light was going to affect the shot, I took a bunch of snaps. After putting them in the computer this morning, I found that some were OK.

   Then I thought, what if I only had the shot above, what would I be able to tell about the subject. It was an interesting picture, but what did I really know from looking at it, except that it was mostly black and white. Some information was there, but I needed a larger perspective to really know.

   I am the same way when it comes to my life. I can see a small part of any picture, but my limited vision keeps me from the knowing the whole story. Even if I take a slice from my past, I can see more from my hindsight, but still the ripples from any particular encounter or event are out of my line of sight.

   It just reminds me to take the things that I see with my eyes, hear with my ears, or feel with my heart with a knowledge that says "you can't see the whole picture". I can't even be sure of what I do see. It is only my limited perspective on any image out there.

   God has the big picture in view, I only have my individual frame.

   Trust His heart even when I can't see.

   There is that word again....TRUST

   And what was that thing that I saw last evening at the Pier Village? Easier to know now.

   A Posing Pelican, probably named Pete

Trust Without Seeing

   One of the readings this morning was found in Genesis 45, the story of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. The section of that chapter that catches my eye finds Joseph telling his brothers not to worry about what has happened in the past, there is a reason for all of it:

"But don’t feel badly, don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years—neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt."

   Joseph spoke the truth concerning the situation and the events leading up to that moment, but I can't help wondering about all the other times that Joseph had maybe questioned why things, events out of his control that looked pretty bad, had dogged his life.

   Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers did not look like a prelude to a good story.

   Joseph tossed into prison when he rightly shunned Potiphar's wife.

   Joseph forgotten by the king's servant after correctly interpreting a dream in prison.

   For many years Joseph had seen things happen, not to someone else, but to him. Events and situations that seemed to lead nowhere. Every time it looked like God was finally going to bless him, he got knocked down again. He may have even wondered, after he was made 2nd in command in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, what catastrophe might strike. It had been the story of his life up to that point.

   But back of all this, another story was being played out, and God was preparing Joseph for his part in the "Big Story".

   Joseph was faithful. He was human, too. I have no doubt that he wondered why a lot of times, but he did not lose his faith, even when he could not see the plan. Now, at last, he could see a role where God had placed him, and the way that it could work out to save his family.

   One of my favorite sayings is "nothing happens without a reason". I wonder if Joseph ever thought that as he struggled to grasp his situation.

   Why am I where I am, in the situations and places that I inhabit? My prayer should be that God would make me faithful in those, even when I do not see the larger picture, trusting that He is working all things out as they should be.

   Joseph got a glimpse of the story, not the end of it all, but a glimpse into his part of that particular scene. He could not know how the story would continue to play in the centuries ahead, but he could trust the Playwright.

   Trust-----that is all we are tasked to do. Not like it is always easy, but with His help, it is possible.

   The only requirement is to submit our will to His and be obedient.

   Another, "easy to write, but hard to live" truism.

Hiding Our Stuff

   The other day, I took a picture of an old eatery in Belen, MS that I was just not satisfied with, and sent it to my photographer mentor. I thought there was a good picture in there somewhere, but could just not get it "right". Here it is again:

   Now here is what he sent back after working on it a little bit:

   What is the difference? He took a bit of the clutter out of the shot, in the form of an old grill beside the chimney, and that made a difference.

   In the Bible reading this morning, Genesis 44, the sin of the sons of Jacob in regards to getting rid of their own brother Joseph, is about to be revealed to the world. They have hidden it from everyone, including their father, but now there will be no place to keep it out of the light anymore. Joseph himself has, with God's wisdom no doubt, maneuvered the situation so that it is out of the other brother's control. There will be no way to keep that particular skeleton in the closet anymore.

   We all have things in our lives that we would rather not be brought out into the light, but, like the grill in the photo, we can take it out to make the whole picture look better, but that act does not take it out of the history of our lives. We can smile and go our way, looking good on the outside, but we know the truth of what we have done. We simply applied a mask to hide the truth.

   In the photo processing tool that I use to make my shots look better, there is a way to take things out of a picture, a simple click, and it is gone, but it is always necessary to have the original shot in the file. There is no way to do away with the original and just keep the copy. The computer program won't let me do it.

   All of us have "stuff" that we would prefer the world out there not to associate with us. I know I do. I can hide it and not confess it to anyone, but the truth, like that original pic, is still out there.

   My true history, not just my smiling exterior one, is out there, and it takes more than a computer program to fix it and make it look better. It takes the forgiveness of God to make it right in His eyes. Acknowledgement of my sins before Him and the desire to go "and sin no more" are keys.

   God knows the original. I can try for a computerized "better copy", but only He can "make all things new".

   Thanks be to Him...

Drive-By Shooting

   Yesterday, as I was taking a look in the computer at some of the shots I had taken on our trip back across Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, I thought I might have a good photo in there somewhere. Some were fair, but nothing to really brag about (one of these I shared yesterday in this blog).

   So I took a couple of the originals and sent them to a friend who is much more knowledgeable than I, and asked what he might do if they were his. How would he bring out the good points and capture the image that was there?

   One of mine is here:

   Now I will put in one of his shots.

   I know there is no comparison in the quality of the photos, but then there is no comparison in the quality of the photographers either. Here is his thoughts on my questions:

"When faced with this kind of temptation, I often (erroneously) resort to taking snapshots. A "drive by shooting" if you will. The only way I know how to maximize my opportunity to "make" a good photo is to work the scene. Dozens of shots from all angles, elevations, compositions. Often, it's not til I get back to the computer do I see the magic. Time takes time, so does quality. I worked a tide on Jeykll while you were away for two mornings at high tide. Got wet, got cold, but in the end, captured a couple of keepers."

   I like his comments on "drive-by shootings" and the need to take the time to get a quality shot.

   And I know that doing things "right" often takes more time than I am willing to put into them. Even in my quiet time in the mornings, I am tempted to read a couple of things quickly, pray for a few moments, see if I get some inspiration, then get on with my day.

   When I sit down, unhurriedly, and take the time to truly look at the words on a page, concentrate on what God is saying to me, pray from my heart the things that I feel, and listen, do I feel His presence.

   But I am still like the Children of Israel in the passage this morning, from Psalm 78:

"They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.

But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant."

   I remember what is right, but I still try the shortcuts., then realize, once again, that there are no shortcuts to quality. Quality takes time in photography, and in life.

   Too soon old and still too late smart.