Praise Him!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens;

Praise Him in the heights!

 

 

 

Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!

 

 

 

Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!

Psalms 148:1-3

 

 



The Splendor of Spring

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty

And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.

Psalms 145:5

 

 

 

I visited Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, Alabama this weekend.  It is 65 acres of beauty!

 



 

 

 

Bellingrath Gardens was the home of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath.  Walter was one of the first 10 people to distribute Coca-Cola. They turned a fishing camp on the Fowl River into a wonderous estate filled with thousands of azaleas and other flowers.

 



 

 

As I walked these grounds with special friends I kept finding my self focusing not on the vast expanse and beauty of the massive azalea bushes, but on the small details of individual blossoms.

 



 

 

That is not to say that the azaleas were not worth the look, they were, and I enjoyed them.  It's just that, for me, the real beauty and wonder is in the details of God's handiwork.

 

I pray that today you will see, and meditate on, His creation, whether it's in the vastness or in the detail.





The Glory of Spring

Spring is in full swing where I am.  New life is springing up all around. 

I hope all of us, as we walk through each day, will take the time to fully experience God's glory in this time of the year.

Get out there this weekend and see what He has done.

Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!"

Exodus 33:18

 



The Journey

Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.

Genesis 12:9

 

 

At the age of 75 God told Abram to walk out the door and take a journey. He left his country. He left his family. He left his home.  And, he didn't even know where he was going!

 

 



All of us are on a journey.  Now we may not be called upon to do as Abram did.  I don't know many who have left everything to "go".  But, I do know some. There are always new doors to open.  And, there is always an unknowing of what is beyond those doors.

The importance of Abram's story is not that God said leave it all behind and go.  The importance is that Abram went. In faith he obeyed. In trust he set out on a journey.

Each day we need to examine our lives and ask, "Where am I being led to journey today? What door should I open?"

The door and the path beyond it may be uncertain, even a little scary.

I would love to know how you face those journeys, those challenges, those changes, in your life.  Leave a comment and share.

Finding Majesty and Splendor in Smaller Doses

O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

Psalms 8:1

 

 

The verse above is very familiar to many of us.  The first phrases are even part of a rather well known praise song.  I think when most hear the verse, or think of God's majesty and splendor, they have visions of soaring mountains or raging rivers.

 

 

 

 

I think of those too.  But, I have also learned to see God's majestic beauty in the smaller, simpler things of life.  Yesterday morning I went out to make photographs.  I had seen a Cherokee rose blooming along the side of a highway near us.  Since that is Georgia's state flower, I wanted to make a photograph.

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After I finished with the Cherokee rose I was drawn to some Wisteria blossoms hanging from a tree nearby.

 

 

 

I also discovered the small wild rose buds in the first picture.  All three plants were growing wild.  None of them have ever been pruned, fertilized, or cared for.  They just grow and bloom, sharing with anyone who sees them the beauty and majesty of God's creation.

 

I like that!











Choice Fruit

Isn't it refreshing to know that you are one of a kind?  There is something about each of us that is unique to only us. 

We all have special attributes to offer the world that are only available through us.  That is both a challenge and a blessing.

Always remember, even though you are part of the crowd, a member of the community, one among many, you are special and you are important!

Keep me as the apple of the eye

Psalms 17:8a

Chasing Perfection

Ahhh! The perfect, delicate, lotus blossom.  Isn't it lovely to look at?  To me it exudes beauty.

But look more closely and you may find that it is not perfect.  Some would find imperfection in the petals that seem to be bending more that the others.  Others might notice that one of the petals is turning brown on the edges.

Is it perfect? No. Is it beautiful? I think so.  In fact many of the flowers I choose to photograph are chosen because they are not perfect.  They have something about them that gives character, emotion, life! They tell a story.

Isn't that the way people are?  There is no perfect person.  We all have flaws. We all fail.  We all come up short in some way.  And yet we struggle and strive for that which is never to be.

 

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

 

 

When we see someone or some thing that is not perfect, remember the words above.  When we realize that we are not perfect remember. Our lives will be better for it.

Where Am I Planted?

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:3

 

 

 

 

Unlike trees we get to choose where  and how we live our lives. We can live a life of service to others or we can live a life of expectancy for ourselves.

 

Today I asked my self this question.  Where am I planted?  





Life Lesson from a Four Year Old

Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31

 

 

Every year we spend time at the beach with some or all of our family.  It is a wonderful time of enjoying the beach with our grandchildren.

 

Our grandson has always been an early riser.  I'm talking before 6:00 a.m. riser! To allow his mom and dad to sleep in, I started taking long walks with him on the beach early in the morning. We would look at the waves, watch the sunrise, and of course pick up sea shells.  One of his favorite types of shells were the small colorful Coquina shells.  He called them butterflies.

 

 

 

One morning, when he was four, he taught me a very profound life lesson.  Because he stopped to examine every shell he saw, I soon got a good distance ahead of him.  Suddenly he shouted, "Slow down Papa, you're missing the butterflies!" 

 

Wow! I did need to slow down.  Not just at the beach, but in everything I do in life.  There is so much to see and experience in life, why rush through it?

 

 

Today I got to walk on the beach again with my grandson who is now ten.  We looked at the waves, watched the sunrise, and picked up shells, and even saw dolphins.  And, I promise, I went slow and tried to not miss the butterflies!

 

 

Spend some time in your day looking for the "butterflies".  You won't regret it.





Goats and Frogs

Sometimes you see just need to laugh.  It's good for you.

 

That's what I did when I saw these goats on the fence.  They ran over and jumped up on the fence one at a time to watch as a very large German Shepherd dog walked by their pen. I don't know if they were curious or concerned, but it was funny to me.

 

 

 

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3:4

 

 

 

Sometimes I laugh at an unexpected something in my photographs.  When I was so very carefully composing this picture of three water lilies I never saw the frog!  I was focused on the water lilies.  That is not a bad thing.  The lilies were beautiful.  But, the frog looking at the camera made me laugh.

 

Yep, sometimes it is good to laugh.  I hope you find one of those times today.

 

 

 



Feel Abandoned?

For the Lord will not abandon His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

Psalms 94:14

 

 

 

Sometimes all of us may feel abandoned.  There is an emptiness to that feeling.  It's not like being alone.  Solitude can be a very peaceful, calming, restoring time.  The isolation of abandonment is never any of those.

 

 

 

When you feel like there is no one to hold you up, look up.  If you are His child you are never abandoned.  He is there. He will sustain you. He will comfort you.  And, most importantly, He will walk you through whatever is weighing you down.

 

 









Change is Coming!

Truth springs from the earth,

And righteousness looks down from heaven.

Psalms 85:11

 

 

 

Change is coming.  The temperatures are slowly moderating, the hours of daylight here are increasing, the earth is awakening with new life.  The cycle begins again.

 

 

With the new season approaching I am reminded that life changes.  People change, jobs change, situations change.  Sometimes change is good.  Sometimes change is exciting.  It's like a new adventure. Always, change is unavoidable. But, as someone once said, the only constant in life is change.

 

 

 

As you walk into a new time of your life I hope you can embrace change and find joy and peace in the new experiences which lie ahead.  I hope I can embrace change in the same way.  That is my goal.

 







The Beauty Beneath the Surface

There is much beauty on and even in our earth.  If you ever get the opportunity visit the Slot Canyons in the Southwestern part of the United States.

 

 The landscape near Page, Arizona is rather barren.  It is mostly a semi arid region covered with very little vegetation.  There are places where the earth literally has cracks in it.  One of those cracks is the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon.  It is another example of God's beautiful earth.

 

 

 

To experience the slot canyon you must descend some 40 feet straight down into the depths of the earth.  There you walk along a winding narrow path through the most glorious "ditch" which has been formed in the rock by millions of years of water flowing through the ground.

The reds, yellows, pinks, purples, and greys of the stone are illuminated only by the sunlight wafting down through the slot above.  It is splendid indeed.

 

 

Splendor and majesty are before Him,

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Psalms 96:6 

The Purpose of My Life

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:8

 

Flowers are beautiful and fun to photograph.  I like to take pictures of the flowers in all of their stages.  The bud, the full bloom, the last petal falling. Often I find that the beginning and the end of the flower's existence are more interesting than the full bloom.

 

 

But, flowers don't last long.

 

 

They are beautiful for a short while and then they fade and they wither.  Why is that?  It's because the flower remembers its purpose.  A flower appears on the plant for one purpose.  That purpose is to sustain the life of that plant species. 

 

 

 

No flower equals no seed.  No seed equals no plants.  And so the cycle is ever ongoing.  The flower blooms, the flower fades, new life is the result.  The flower has fulfilled its purpose.

 

What is your purpose?

 





 

Trust

I remember very well the most difficult photograph I ever made.  This is not it!

 

 

The most difficult photograph I ever made was actually directly behind where I was standing when I made this picture.  I think this was a bonus, a reward, a victory lap. I made this one AFTER I made the difficult one.

  

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

 

 

 

The place was near Page, AZ. The moment was part of my very first His Light Photo Workshop led by Bill Fortney.  The iconic image that everyone went to shoot that morning was Horseshoe Bend. 

 

Horseshoe Bend is on the Colorado River just north of the Grand Canyon. Flowing out of Lake Powell, the river has cut a channel through the rock creating a 1000 foot drop from where I was to where the river was.

 

To take THE picture you had to stand on the edge of that drop and point your camera almost straight down.

 



 

Those of you who know me now know why this was my most difficult shot.  I don't do high places!  Rest assured I did not approach the edge like my friend Keith in the picture above.  Instead I slithered like a lizard on my belly, praying all the while.  I think I might have even kept my eyes closed most of the time.

 

But, through the prayer and through my trust in the Lord, I was able to accomplish the goal I had set.

I didn't get as many images as some of my friends did.  I probably didn't get images as good as many of them, but I did get what I set out to get.

 

Here it is.

 

 

When you find the road ahead challenging and difficult, trust in Him. Lean not on your own understanding, especially if you are on the edge of a 1000 foot drop!

 



Learning to Be Content

 

 

A photography friend recently posted that he went to a location expecting to shoot a certain kind of photograph and instead shot something totally different.  That should never surprise a photographer.  When you go to a location you want great light, great lines, great texture, great something! But, you are not in control. For photography to being an enjoyable venture the photographer must learn to take what the scene, the weather, the situation gives them.  In other words, be ready to make lemonade no matter what.

 

 

 

I went to the beach this morning.  The first picture above is what I could have expected or longed for.  The second picture is what I got.  Flat sky, flat water, flat sand.  None of those are particularly exciting to photograph. So what was I to do?  Go moping home empty handed?  Complain? Kick sand in someone's face? None of those would have made my day any better.  Besides, kicking sand in someone's face could be dangerous to my health.

 

I had a choice.  Let my day be ruined or see if I could find something to challenge me as a photographer.  Granted, I knew I would not make spectacular images on this beach today. But, I could still look for line, texture, and composition. 

 

I chose to have a good time.  To be content.

 

Not that I speak from want for I have learned

to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Philippians 4:11

 

 

Here's what I came home with.

 

 

 

Although I am not 100% there, I am learning to live by Paul's words.  I hope you can find contentment in your day as well.