It is all a matter of where you focus

To be honest the last five or six weeks I have been focusing on the darkness. The darkness of evil, sin, sickness, human unkindness. I have been preoccupied with the needs of my family, my friends, my neighborhood, my church. I have been enveloped by the darkness of my own soul.

I have looked at the problems without looking at the solutions. I have seen only the shadows while denying the existence of the light.

Today, when I woke up, the weather matched my heart. Cloudy, cold, and rainy.


As the day went on, the rain broke, and sun arrived for just a few brief moments. Inspired by these fleeting rays, I grabbed my camera and headed out to catch the first hints of spring struggling to be seen despite the gloom. By the time I stepped outside, the sun was once again hidden, but the evidence of spring was still evident, if I would just look for it.

As I searched for color and light, I found that I was soon relying on the macro setting and zoom to frame my shots so that only the water drops and traces of color from the first blooms of the season were in focus, while denying the context of what was just out of frame.

My attention swung from preoccupation with darkness to a preoccupation of light. Extremes are seldom healthy. So I took a step back. I took shots of things "as they were". Then I used the zoom to draw attention to color that might go unnoticed.

These blooms were there yesterday, but I didn't noticed them. Hope was there yesterday, but I didn't stop to notice it.

This exercise in photography was an exercise in paying attention. To notice what is around me. To notice the joy that I often ignore.

A selection of this exercise can be found here.

--Serving Him alongside all of you, Just from farther away
--Jesse Letourneau