Light and reflection

Yellow willows reflected in a Monet-like pattern

Yesterday was one of April's come-outside-and-play days.

I finally left my office just before dinner, picked up my little digital camera, and drove to a near-by public path.

Don't you love these back pockets!

Others had the same idea – families, dog walkers, roller bladers, and bike riders, all loving the same opportunity.

The late afternoon sun uniquely highlighted logs, trees, and rocks.

In the right light, ordinary becomes beautiful

A little girl on a bike grinned as she realized I was taking her photo. A migrating warbler (I think) hovered in front of me, hummingbird-like, devouring invisible insects.

Serious bird photographer

A real photographer, with his camera on one end of a very long telescope, was capturing bird photos. He showed me some of his shots; he was good.

One message from my little walk was that Christ lights up even what appears ordinary and makes it beautiful, special, important. I want to become more aware of what that Christ light reveals all the time.

Thriving in the light

Thriving in the sunlight
even when it's overcast!

In the last post, we talked about buckthorn – that invasive non-native species that clutters up forests in the American Midwest – and how it is a metaphor for whatever would clutter our thinking. All human clutter is non-native to man as God’s loved spiritual idea.

It’s exciting to see the results once that clutter is removed. The most obvious result is light! Light everywhere – to the left, to the right, and in between. With all this light, the forest’s natural beauty reappears. Where underbrush grabbed at your legs a year ago, wildflowers bask in newly discovered space and sunshine.

To push the light metaphor a little further, you and I are not that different from the flowers – insofar as we thrive in the light of our creator’s love for us.

The non-native invasive species of anger, envy, hate, resentment create an unnatural shade in which life becomes a struggle.

It takes persistent commitment to remove the over-competitive buckthorn. Also, on the mental and spiritual level, it takes persistent commitment to a God of Love to remove invasive species from our lives, so we can thrive and be as beautiful and useful and joyous as He/She intends.