Shadow's Shape and Shadows Shape

Seeing shadows and darkness as part of a bigger picture, a bigger story can be surprising.

Words Without Pictures

My son and daughter have both been good examples to me in how they share what they know. Now, I'm not necessarily talking about opinions, though they are very apt to share those as well. What I'm talking about is sharing knowledge, sharing what they have learned.

My daughter recently took up teaching piano and my son has begun to teach workshops at Studio Central, an art studio where he volunteers. They are both not intimidated by what they don't know yet. I find this refreshing and inspiring. You see, I think there are times I retreat from sharing what I know, from teaching what I've learned because I don't know it all yet.

Enough.

This evening I start teaching my first class called Creativity in Photography.

Words Without Pictures

I've spent a lot of time thinking about spring and the new life it brings. It can be exciting and so full of amazing changes. But last Sunday, my thoughts shifted to the season of summer as a guest speaker spoke at our church.

Aaron Wiebe talked about summer being a foretaste of heaven. A summertime of the heart can be the opposite of winter when God may feel remote, distant. Summer is a time of abundance and fruitfulness.

Aaron encouraged us to revel in summer (enjoy, play, rest), water in summer (water our souls, leave water footprints wherever we go), gather in summer (what God gives, give back - be expectant to both give and receive that which is precious) and finally, prune in summer (don't mistake leafiness for fruitfulness).

I came away feeling sun-kissed and Son-kissed, both. I was encouraged and filled with hope, inspired to go through this coming season of summer in a new way, starting right now.

For your amusement I scanned my notes from Sunday and will include them below (it's not really a picture so I'll keep my post title). To most, this will make no sense - it is jibberish, but I am a visual and creative learner. Learning in church doesn't stop that. (To my embarrassment I see that I misspelled 'foretaste'...oh well...)

Beautiful Things

Recently I've been inspired to put together a photo show. The last time I did this was for my brother-in-law's funeral a year and a half ago and prior to that it had been a long while.

I watched a video on youtube, called Beautiful Things by Gungor. It really moved me and called me to look at hope, grace and mercy afresh. As I listened to the song and watched this duo sing and play, I thought of some of the images I've taken over the past years (one of them is posted below) and wanted to marry them to hope, grace and mercy...or maybe they already were and I was just making that connection.

The journey of compiling this kind of project is long for me. The time varies but the process takes me to places and teaches me things and calls me to apply truth to deeper recesses and darker corners...the distance is long, layered and labored.

Whether or not someone sees the end result is insignificant, at least for me, today.

Learning

There is so much more to this life and living than I know. There are many things I will never understand while I live on this earth but heaven forbid I quit trying, quit learning.

Sometimes something will happen to immediately stretch my thinking. Sometimes it is a conversation with a friend, sometimes a comment on one of my posts, sometimes it is a truth in the Bible that shines light on my life in a way it had not before. Sometimes it is the act of photography.

Taking a photo of the moon this morning reminded me of my smallness and creation's grand scale. It enlarged my capacity, even if only for a short while, to imagine how much more there is to know, to learn, and made me hungry to grow.

The Road

There is a bunch to learn along this artsy road. I can get quite overwhelmed at times and feel like it is just all too much and want to step back or even step out (of the world of art, I mean) but I don't think my heart can really do that, step out.

I believe I was created by God with a creative bent. The creative touch was not by chance but rather an intentional gifting. The purpose of this gift is to touch the world around me in many ways I likely won't even be aware of and to point back to my Creator, not to keep it to myself, buried and useless.

As I've chosen to become vulnerable in putting my work, myself, out there, I have learned a great deal about photography of course, but also about so much more. I have learned about the business end and logistics of the art world. I have learned about relating to people and engaging with them in some really quite remarkable ways that speak into my life. I have discovered ways to move through work that seems beyond my ability to do, step by step, until I get to the end of whatever it is that is put before me. I have learned that there is much to learn and the fear of being exposed as unlearned is a pretty bad reason not to learn and proceed and reach for more. I have learned that self-doubt and negative self-talk often come after an exciting opportunity is presented to me...and I accept it. I am learning how to recognize that and work through that, and not allow it to influence my decisions.

I have also learned more about who God is in this process. It amazes me how He reaches into my spirit and my circumstances to reveal Himself to me on this journey. This is a rich road of learning and one I am so thankful to be on.

Each of us is on a road of learning. What the roads look like will vary greatly from person to person, but some of these things that I am learning, you too are learning in ways that are specific to who you are.

So on we go, sometimes overwhelmed but hopefully with a continued zeal for learning more as we journey on.