I {LOVE} Sunday...

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5

#prayforparis

{With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace }

I {LOVE} Sunday::to be resalted...

Salt and Light

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16

{With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace }

What I learn from the ugly duckling...

In my wanderings about lately, I've given up pushing past momentary difficulties - choosing instead to simply sit on the ground and rest where ever I happen to be when the energy and effort to take one more step escapes me. 

I've come to appreciate this ground-level perspective - especially when surrounded by wildflowers in the thick pasture grass or near the cypress knees at the sloping edges of our Pollywog Creek pond. It's where you're most likely to find me these days - in the cool of morning and late afternoon.

A small badelynge of muscovy ducks spends most of every day in and around the pond. I've never see them flying in with enough time to grab a camera and focus, so capturing these large and heavy ducks' big-splash landings has thus far eluded me.

With a reputation for being a messy nuisance and a red-warty face that only a mother duck could love, there's no denying that the muscovy lacks the painted bunting's photogenic appeal. 

Even so, I'm entertained by their antics as they float around the pond, waddle about on their large webbed feet, and rest and preen in the shade of the cypress trees, but their appetite for the mosquitoes and lavae that multiply in legions in our tropical south is what I appreciate the most.

But here's what I've noticed about these ugly ducklings - when sunlight falls on their backs they are beautiful - their feathers shining iridescent green and purple - and I forget about their mess and red-warty faces. 

And I think about the ugly sin and mess in our lives that is hidden by who we are in Christ as the light of the gospel shines on you and me.

The Lord is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.

Psalm 118.27

I recently updated my Free For Bloggers Set on Flickr with new photos. No strings attached - you can link them to me, or not. Those photos are my gift to you. 

Christian hands never clasp and He doesn't give gifts for gain...a gift can never stop being a gift - it is always meant to be given.

― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

{Photos - around my Pollywog Creek pond}

Sweet Shot Tuesday::Light...

Facebook friends will not be surprised by this photo. I posted it yesterday after Emily and I were greeted with this amazing picture.

It's been an unusually warm winter here in SW Florida. I was excited about this recent cold snap and the opportunity to try to photograph macros of the frost that was forecast for the morning, but I was disappointed when I woke up and discovered that it was ten degrees warmer than they had expected. There was no frost. 

I didn't even bother to look outside because I was sure that there would be nothing unusual out there for me to photograph, but Emily needed me to move the truck so that she could get the car out of the garage and go to work. As we walked outside, we were stunned by the view. 

As Emily took pictures with her phone, I moved the truck and hurried back inside to get my camera. To think that I almost missed this because I thought there'd be nothing to see. 

  

As I brought the photos up on my computer, a passage in John 9, where Jesus healed the boy who had been blind from birth, came to mind, and I began to see more than just light and fog and smoke.

It's not the sun shining through a clear blue sky that creates the wow...it's the sun breaking through a layer of fog and smoke. As Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him....As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 

That's the wow - when Christ Light breaks through the smoke and fog in our lives that the "works of God" are clearly displayed to His glory. 

Still Saturday and I {LOVE} Sunday::to be in the Light...

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Psalm 112:4 ESV
In community this weekend with Sandra and Deidra

To be a light...

I know what it's like to exchange my robe of righteousness for shame - to cower alone in darkness and hide from the light that exposes my sin and to lick my wounds with bitterness.    

It's the enemy of our souls that wants us to linger in dark places and hide from the light we fear...the light that reveals our sins and brokenness, I tell my friend who knows this hiding in brokenness, too - this cowering embarrassed and ashamed.  

But it's the light that heals, I try to encourage my friend, and God's love covers a multitude of sins. It's freedom to admit we are broken. We are all broken - at different times in different places - but instead of confessing our sins and sharing our woundedness and asking those who love us to help us heal, we walk around trying to hold all the pieces together, leaving chips and shards of wounds in our wake. 

I tell her this, because hurt people hurt people, and it always come back to this...

Those who look to {the LORD} are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed. Psalm 34:4-7 ESV

We are radiant - not because we are light, but because we are in the Light and the Light of Christ is in us and - exposing our sins, healing our wounds, reflecting off our unashamed faces and pouring into and through our brokenness and onto the lives of those around us.      

{I intended for this to post yesterday morning, but for whatever reason, I failed to schedule it. As our nation mourns unspeakable evil, may the Body of Christ be light where ever the LORD takes us in the days to come. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.}

31 Days::Day 28 - I {LOVE} Sunday...

For God, who said,  “Let light shine out of darkness,”
has shone in our hearts  to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

Day 28 - Romans 14 {... For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. vs 17-19 }, sabbath rest.

   

31 Days::Day 25 - Oh, the depth of the riches...

The Lord is my light and my salvation; 

whom shall I fear? 

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; 

of whom shall I be afraid?  

Psalm 27:1

I'm anxious to be out the door these gloriously golden late October days, because I'm learning it's the light I've been missing - cooped up in the house to escape the harshness of summer.

I leisurely {as though I have the ability to do differently} wander along the river at the park in town or around our pond here on Pollywog Creek and whatever it is that otherwise weighs heavy seems to slide right off. Sluggishness gives way to a lilt in my limp as the light filters through the live oaks by the river and the feathery leaves of the cypress trees flutter into the pond and where warblers hop from limb to limb.

While cleaning out old files several years ago, I found the outline of a talk I'd given to a group of women at least ten years before, where I applied the characteristics of light to the ways God had revealed Himself to me. I've shared that outline before, but it seems appropriate to me to do so again today, because it's light I seem to be missing.

Light shows us the way out of darkness... I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." John 12:46 

Light shows us the way in darkness... Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. Micah 7:8 

Light reveals what is hiding... He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light. Job 12:22 

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible... Ephesians 5:13 

Light heals... He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 

Light shines through "cracks" and weaknesses... For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. II Corinthians 4:5-6 

Light attracts... Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life... Philippians 2:14-16 

Light reflects... Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:1-2

Day 25 - Romans 11 {... Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! vs 33}, new cuttings of asparagus fern and flame bush blossoms, a mountain of laundry.

I can't explain it...

...but fences and fence posts capture my attention. 

Neighbors who happen to see me out in the pasture early in the morning taking pictures of rotting fence posts must think I've lost it. And truthfully? Many, if not most, of those photos end up in the trash. I would have deleted this picture of a lichen-covered post if it weren't for those sparkling bokeh jewels in the background. 

It's one of my favorite photography techniques - creating those lovely bokeh pearls like the ones in the field beyond the fence and over the little froggy's head in that photo in the sidebar.

The camera and my eyes were focused on the ugly rotting fence post and barb wire, but the blur and colors of bokeh lights created interest and beauty that could not have been seen with the naked eye alone. 

And I am reminded that much of what I often see in crusty people and rotten circumstances is shallow and superficial, and how desperate I am for Holy Spirit vision that will reveal the beauty I cannot otherwise see and offers hope in what shines and sparkles deeper and just beyond.  

"...For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

It's with my camera that I often walk with Him - seeing beauty and life and light I'd otherwise miss. 

And you? What are some of the ways you walk through this life - where the Holy Spirit peels away what we see on the outside to reveal His heart of love and grace and beauty? If you are a photographer, what is one of your favorite techniques?

{A gently edited post from the archives}