Distraction

Distraction allows the mind to wander away and lose focus.  Sometimes distraction aids me if I am too focused on something not useful.  In college, I would take a walk to clear my head and then I was able to write.  On the other hand, distractions can kill us.  If we are texting or talking on the phone while driving, someone could get badly hurt or worse. I worked with women who spent time in federal prisons some of whom served time for fraud.  What amazed me about these women was how they would distract me from what they did not want me to see.  Whenever I felt like I was being hypnotized, I knew something was going on.  I did not always know what, but I knew I had to keep my eyes wide open.  Life is a lot like working with fraud artists. We don't get that privilege in the real world of knowing who the fraud artists are. We have to live our lives, keep our eyes open, and hope we are looking in the right direction. 

The Garden

As an image, the garden is quite powerful. The garden is a place of rest, of fruit, joy, peace accomplishment, desire, love. We go to our gardens to feel whole, to entertain and connect. If you garden, you know the joy of sticking your hands in the dirt or pulling weeds so good plants can grow. Biblically, we begin in a garden where all things are as they should be, and then we mess it up but good. I think we as humans long for the garden. I think the garden we long for looks different to different people. We long for perfection and wholeness of heart, mind, body and soul.

In Spring, I am amazed that the buds when they first appear hold all the information they need to become what they are. How is it that we do not have this internal knowledge, or do we? Are we just born into a fallen or mixed up world and so no longer are able to hear the natural call to the garden?

When I look around, I see people looking for their own gardens and I wonder what their garden is all about. I wonder what they see as beautiful and perfect. I wonder what their desires are drawing them. I wonder all these things about myself. Maybe I need to edit my image of the garden, and pull out the weeds that just do not belong there so that truth, beauty and love might grow.

Change of Plans

Troubles. Last night the computer that houses my photos stopped working. I had been in the middle of a post for this blog and wanted to finish, but this seems like a much better topic to write about. Life is like that. One moment you have an idea of how it is going to go and then the next moment something happen completely different from what was planned. So many times in my life have set out plans, only to have huge changes occur which make the plans impossible. I have found that the journey I took as a result on an unexpected path has always brought me wonderful treasures. Sometimes my whole life has been changed in a second, in a look, in a word. I find that amazing about life. Sometimes the journey has been rough and without much light on the path, but the other side of the darkness has always brought me something wonderful that has made me grateful that the plan was changed.

Come Forth

Just a little note. Today in the Orthodox Church we read one of my favourite gospels. I love the story of the raising of Lazarus and could write on many aspects of this piece, but I won't. I will only speak about the end where Jesus call to his friend who is dead to come forth. While I may not be dead in its clinical sense, parts of me are dead or not alive, not turned toward that which will give me fullness of life. Just like Lazarus, I am called forth, yet somehow I would rather remain in tomb than live the fullness that life has given me. We are all called forth. Let us come forth and live.

Plans

Looking at opportunities for the summer. Last year I planned, but life happened. I don't regret it because new opportunities opened for me. I was able to photograph my parents home from late spring to mid-summer which was a real treat. This year, I hope to be able to photograph alley ways of Hamilton. I have never seen alleys like this. They often scare me which in a weird way I take as an indication that I need to do something. Will be looking for partners to photograph with in the darker alleys of Hamilton. (Safety first!) Love that even in the deep dark alley, I need only look up to see the light. Things are changing in my life and work. I look forward to what comes next.

Today

Today most traditional Christians celebrate the Annunciation. In the Orthodox tradition, the hymn of the day, the Tropar, starts with "Today is the beginning of our salvation". Today. Now. How can something that is suppose to have happen in the past be today? We enter into the narrative, we put on the glasses of the text through which we see our lives. For those in the Orthodox Church, today is the day of the beginning of the nativity narratives. Today we celebrate that God became one of us so that we can become like him, not him, but like him. That means we get to do what he does. That means we get to change the world through love of neighbor, through selfless acts, through emptying ourselves so that others might live. Not easy. One of my favorite Christmas sermons said that the incarnation was like the baker becoming the cake. I like that. It gives the illogical nature of what we proclaim in a simple image. How can this be true? No logic. None. If anyone tells you there is logic in this, they either do not understand, or are deceiving themselves and you. Yet, we affirm that today is the beginning of our salvation, of our hope, of our being able to enter into the life of the gospel . Today we enter into love.

Crocus Time of Spring

Seems like yesterday we were deep in the stillness of winter, holding on tight and waiting for the promise of spring and new life. I love the crocus because she bursts forth from the ground before most other plants dare to and proclaim the coming spring. I look forward each year to the first cocus to come up. I am warmed by the promise that Spring is almost here and the troubles of winter will soon pass.

Kind words in a time of trouble or acts of love have this effect on me. Sometimes in the winters of my life, sweet words or acts of love let me know that I am not left alone in a deep winter where there is no hope and no connection. I know then that the snow will melt or even that I am not alone waiting for the snow to melt. Cold weather might still be in the future, but it is going to pass. Joy will come again. Things will grow and bear fruit, just like it always does. I have been through such a winter. I am in the corcus time of spring, and I thank all for their kind words and acts of love that have seen me through this winter to remember.