Photography as a Spiritual Practice
Guest Writer: Eve Turek
Surprise!
"And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
he says:
'It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.'" Isaiah. 49:5-6.
Let Peace Prevail
My husband, Pete, likes to give practical gifts. He asks, "What do they need?" when considering a present. As a personality that wants to succeed, I stress over choosing perfect gifts without a list to go by. My key question is, "What do they want?" My mom preferred to shop for surprises, gifts you never knew existed, so they made no wish list but were absolutely perfect. She always asked herself, "What would they love?"
Each gift-giving style has its advantages. Pete gains the satisfaction of knowing the gift will be used. While my gifts may not be exciting to open, I know they will be appreciated. But Mom's gifts! Mom's gifts were always the best. In her later years, she wrote little riddles or clues on the tags to keep us guessing. But, of course, Dad and I never did. How could we guess something we had never heard of?!?
As I have been thinking about gifts and how we choose them, I ponder what that might say about God's gifts to us. I remember today's image from a Dove Release I photographed some years ago. I had to stand in a place where the doves flew in my direction, but that put me aiming right at the sun (not ideal). But a partial inverting of the image revealed a giant Eye within the Sun's rays that only the camera could see and record. As is so often true with God's gifts, the image itself was a Great Surprise. I've called the image both Let Peace Prevail and Vision for Peace.
As we light candles each week through Advent, I think about the gifts each week's candle represents and the culmination of all these days of preparation and patience in our Christmas celebration of God's coming to earth in human form.
So far, we have lighted candles of Hope, Peace, and Joy. This Sunday, the candle of Love will join the other three. Finally, we will light the fifth white candle representing Christ Himself at Christmas.
All the gifts the candles represent, including illumination in dark spaces—whether literal, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, national, or global—show what a wonderful gift-giver our God is. His gifts of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in Christ answer all of our own questions: What do we need? What do we want? What would we love?
The only questions left are those each of us must answer for ourselves. How will I unwrap God's gift this year? How can I share this gift this year with others?—Eve Turek
Joanna joannaseibert.com