"his teacher" - a photo assignment this week
This is what you should do: Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people...
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem.
- Walt Whitman
* * * * *
(I am still laughing)
It is a gift to see the beauty in your own life some days, isn't it?
I think this place is quaint and quiet, a homey little pioneer town in the mountains. But it is definitely not as beautiful as other places I have lived.
I have lived in the heart of the Midwest (Northern Indianapolis) where the haze lays over the fields and the fireflies bounce around in the dark evenings. I have lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where *quaint* originated -- the beauty out my doors was breathtaking -- lavender wisteria blooms falling from pine trees, honeysuckle growing wild across the back fence and the humidity softening hard edges.
I have also lived in the east valley of Phoenix, Arizona, in cotton fields and wild desert. I fell in love the starkness of sand and twigs, and the expansive open spaces. Warm reds and oranges against the purple of the Superstition Mountains ~ gorgeous.
I have lived in visual splendor.
And now, I am in a tiny farm community with dust, rust, and sheep...
Every move has been a hardship and a great learning experience. I don't regret a single home. Each stepping stone on this path has been an great upturning of fallow ground, seeds planted and watered, and harvests of understanding grace, real friendship, and divine truths. Do you know these blessed gifts in your life, too?
Some lessons are only learned when our hearts are fully ripe to hear...
Now, as the seasons are changing and the sheep are getting ready to come home (remember they have been up in those high mountains camping), I am again grateful for the chance I have to live in this sweet (sheepy) place.
It is great teacher, a visual liturgy, and a messy canvas for my head and heart~
It is also a perfect fit for a silly girl like me. I am home.
(one of my sweet puppies last year)
May you see the beauty in your life today. Take a sketch pad or a camera and gather an image that inspires you. Our God loves to put His glory on display!
love & lambs to you,
jj
