Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Looking for the Positive, the Beautiful, and Finding It!!

Life for the first three weeks of May has been filled with lots of meaningful events. Along the way, I've taken more photos than usual, and was amazed at how many "photo opps" I had. As I looked back over hundreds of pictures, I was grateful for how much "significance and beauty" my Father had allowed me to experience in three short weeks.

First, a few notes:

Except for the photos with me in them, I took all of these pictures between May 3rd and May 20th.

The major events include:

A couple of trips to the Edisto Rose Gardens in Orangeburg, SC, to test out my new Panasonic Lumix ZS20 Camera (hence the flowers and birds!).

The wedding of Matthew and Elizabeth Jones on Sullivan's Island. Matthew is the oldest son of Joel and Patty Jones...wonderful friends for over 35 years (Joel and I were at Clemson together)!

Baby dedication service at our church on Mother's Day with two families, the Huttos and the Brelands. I took group shots as part of the worship service. Hey, we're family aren't we!?

A trip to Wake Forest, NC, to visit Randy and Kittie Trail (again lifelong friends of over 30 years since seminary days), and to help out with things as Kittie had surgery while I was there. (It went well.)

I ended up with shots from my climb up on old fire tower (with permission from the owners!)! So this is just to remind folks that there is beauty all around us, if we'll take time to notice!

So here are just a few of the reasons I can say "Thank You Lord" over and over and over again!
Even in difficult days, we can find good if we look for it! If we can't see it, maybe that means it's our turn to do something good for others to take pictures of! Our Father wants us to focus on the good stuff. How do I know? Well, Philippians 4:8 for one: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

So look around...take a picture...if you're not having a good day, then find a way to make it a good day!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Hungry, Hungry Heron...and I Got Him on Video!

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Edisto Rose Gardens in Orangeburg, SC, and was amazed at how calm, cool, collected, and calculated a blue heron was. As children threw bread in his vicinity, and turtles approached, he remained unmoved, focused on the water, or, should I say, on what was under the water. After I videoed him the first time, I return a week and a half later to find him in the same stance at the very same location with "similar" results.

I've been playing around with iMovie, so this is what I came up with...


So what's the object lesson here? The heron lived by focusing on that which would sustain his life, not being distracted by that which would not.