Faith-filled Photographers

This week, we’re up to the Fifth Day, when God created the birds and the fish. “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.” (Gen. 1:20).

Have you ever tried to capture birds? I once took part in a challenge that included getting a picture of a bird. It took me until the very last day of the challenge! Having the best equipment, like long telephoto lenses, is really only half the battle. It takes a lot of patience to capture those incredible wildlife pictures.Here’s a great little article with some helpful hints for attracting and photographing birds in your backyard.

We have visited many aquariums during our family vacations: San Antonio, Virginia Beach, Gatlinburg, Dallas and Boston. The Ripley’s aquarium in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has been our favorite so far. Do you live near an aquarium? Here’s an article with some great tips for getting good pictures despite all the difficulties — crowds, low light, flash and tripod restrictions, etc.

At the end of each day, God declared his work to be good. How will you show the goodness of God’s creations in your work this week?

Christmas is nearly here and so in this final week of Advent it seems appropriate to turn our focus to the words that Mary spoke nine months earlier: “May it be done to me according to your word.”

These simple words mask some very serious theology. But most of all they offer to us a model of perfect faith. Raniero Cantalamessa in Mary, Mirror of the Church says, “In these few simple words, the greatest and most decisive act of faith in history took place. Mary’s answer represents the ‘summit of all religious behavior before God, because it expresses, to the highest degree, both a passive willingness and active readiness, the deepest void that accompanies the greatest fullness.’ Origen said that it’s as if Mary were saying to God, ‘Behold, I am a tablet to be written on: let the Writer write whatever he wills, let the Lord of all things do with me as he wishes.’”

It’s more than a stoic acceptance — it’s a joyful readiness to embrace and participate and cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever started down a path in life — maybe a college major or a career direction — and found that you were going the wrong way? Did you try to convince yourself that you weren’t? “But hospitals always need nurses.” “Yes, it’s a lot of travel, but the money is incredible.” “I’m graduating next year; I’m not going to change my major now.”

When I choose a path for myself, I usually have a destination in mind, but I have no reliable map for getting there. I can try to follow someone else’s map, but I can’t possibly come at it from the same starting point, and I’m sure to run into a roadblock or two that will set me searching for detours.

What happens, though, when I decide to let God choose my path in life? Some of the roads He leads me down may be scary, or even life-threatening, and they are just about guaranteed to be avenues I’d never consider taking on my own. The important question is: where do I end up?

It’s the second week of Advent. In Mark’s Gospel, John the Baptist tells us to “prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.” For me, that means preparing my heart and mind by letting go of the need to control my life. It also means praying daily, thereby ensuring that God has a direct line of communication straight to me.