Reality

One can talk about something, even learn about it, but when “it” really happens – everything changes!
 
I love taking pictures.  I enjoy capturing the old, new, and change in the neighborhood in New York.  There is something vibrant going on.  Nothing is ever quite what it was, even if the comparison was just a few weeks or months ago.  Everything is moving, changing, evolving in its own way.  It is one thing to talk about the change, even ramble on about how wonderful it would be to capture it on film.  Yet the act of getting a slice of history on film makes the words seem irrelevant.  Nothing quite compares to the experience of simply doing.
 
With practice I find myself looking at the world as if I am looking through a lens.  The only way I can describe the difference is one of intent.  When one takes a picture, with a camera or in one’s mind, one is intentional.  There is inspiration and insight as to what is.  There is a sense of perspective and framework of the present.  There is even an act of remembering – not simply the details in the photograph – the textures of the moment.  When I look at a picture, I can recall the time of year, the way the sun played on my skin, how the wind nipped at my core.  Everything that was is present in the moment of remembering.
 
I look at today and see a picture waiting to be experienced.  We live in the present, filled with opportunities to engage in the business of life.  We can live with perspective.  We can see with clarity.  We can give expectantly.  Everything can be because of the relationship we have with God; known or unknown, realized or still to be experienced, blossoming or still as a bud.  Ideally, in time, “people will say, ‘Look at what's happened!  This is our God!  We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!  This God, the one we waited for!  Let's celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.’”  (Isaiah 25.9)