Insights: A Pure and Perfect Light

A thought crossed my mind the other day, one that carried a profound image across its depth. As I played with the idea the basic concept behind it revealed a deeper meaning that I had never before realized.

You see, in photography we often use filters to change the light into a form we want it to become. Sometimes we darken it, somtimes we shift the color cast, sometimes we ruin it, but overall, attaching a filter to our lense allows us to use light in a different manner than its original strength would otherwise provide. We may believe what we've done creates an improvement, but more often than not what we have accomplished is to distort the light so that it no longer retains its natural look.

As I thought about it, I realized that we do the same kind of thing with the light of God. We mistakenly want to place filters between ourselves and his light so we can change it into what we want it to become instead of simply using the natural purity and truth of what it represents. Doing so never improves it, it only serves to create a distorted image that limits our ability to enjoy it as it was intended; a pure and perfect light.

Insights: Moments of the Heart

 

Moments of the Heart are what I call them - moments of time and place blended in such a way as to carve new meaning into a faded identity. It is during those times I am most at home - most in tune with who I am.  As I drift alone on silent waters and experience a new day come to life - I find myself no longer attached to the past - I discover something new - something remarkable - for as surely as the sun will rise - I rise with it…suspended above boundaries of light.

Insights: Like a Son and a Dad

(...An excerpt from a letter to my son...)

Mistakes are what God allows us to make so we can learn from them. Our mistakes are not what hold us down. It is how we choose to react to them that determine what they mean in our lives.  If we allow them to fester, they never heal – they only serve to destroy everything that is good.

God creates a path – a series of paths really – for us to choose from, but even the best of paths are filled with dangers.  He allows us to make our own choices, but he desires to walk with us on whatever path we choose.  It is what we do as we travel along that path that reflect who we are.  We can choose to allow pot holes and difficult terrain to slow our progress, to make us angry, frustrated, and distant, bitter or apathetic.  We can allow trials and tribulations to fill our lives with uncertainty and fear, or, we can see them as humbling challenges. When we fall, we can choose to extend our right hand toward our heavenly father to lift us – help us rest – so he can place us safely on his shoulders to carry us across that difficult ground. Once across the gauntlet, He will set us upon that path again and place his hand on our shoulder to guide us through more difficult circumstances. Like the good father he is, he will challenge us to face our fears –show us where we went wrong and then point the way back to safety.  He allows us to reap the rewards and setbacks of our decisions.  Yet, He will embolden us to persevere through whatever comes our way.  He touches our hearts with compassion and fills it with confidence, and most importantly, he helps us discover what the love of a father really means.

 He will do this even for Daddy’s who made too many mistakes with their own sons. Amid the chaos, He provides clarity about knowing the distinction between going it alone - and reaching for his strength.  This realization comes from a heart that has shared such moments with him – like a son and his dad – which is like it should be…