How the Lens Changes Things

When I’m having a hard day, I look through the lens of my camera. Somehow when I look at ordinary things from behind my camera lens, they  stop me in my tracks and make me realize the beauty of all that I have. The true gift of the right now in which God Himself has placed me. Somehow, the lens transforms dreary days into beautiful snippets of tiny little beautiful moments that end up making my day. I find myself looking for the everyday pieces of amazing that I didn’t recognize before. Somehow, the lens of of my camera changes the way I look at things and helps me find God’s truth, His beauty.

So I start to notice the simple beauty of a bench in the park. And suddenly it’s a gift.

And the amazing of a bunch of tables awaiting connection that will take place over beer steins and brats at a community festival.

When I look through the camera lens, I notice things like a reflection on the water, and I thank God for the gift of right now, for the gift of my man and his love. And it makes me want to kiss the love of my life and capture it for the beauty of the moment. Well, that, and for the sheer fun of grossing my kids out.

I get excited for a bee stopping at a flower and finding nectar for its own beautiful creation. Somehow, even a bee is a gift from God, that I might see it for its beauty rather than fear it for its sting.

When I grab my camera, I start looking for photos, beautiful moments within the whole day, to document. Because, broken up into little tiny pieces, the whole of the moment, the entirety of the big huge incapturable scene becomes so much richer, so much more abundant. Because my camera can’t capture an entire scene’s beauty, but it can magnify the smaller, grasp-able pieces of the scene and reveal layers of beauty that I might have otherwise ignored. In the same way, my soul can’t fit its arms around the whole of a moment. It sometimes struggles to find amazing in the right now. Until I let God uncover the layers in tiny little snapshots of the huge gift He’s given me called life.

The gift of my camera lens helps me count the gifts one by one, right along with Ms. Voskamp and the beautifully amazing community of gift counters who look for ways that Almighty God has graced them in the very right now. So today, I’m joining in the counting. You too? Click on the link and be inspired by others to find the joyful thanks in every right now.