Beauty Is Absolutely Essential

Thought I would share an excerpt from John and Staci Eldredge's book "Captivating," as I look back over the pictures of the countryside and of the ocean that I have taken this summer.  I highly, highly recommend John's writings, and I couldn't agree with his comments more:


I (John) just let out a deep sigh. That we even need to explain how beauty is so absolutely essential to God only shows how dull we have grown to Him, to the world in which we live, and to Eve. Far too many years of our own spiritual lives were lived with barely a nod to beauty, to the central role that beauty plays in the life of God, and in our own lives. How could we have missed this?

Beauty is essential to God. No-that's not putting it strongly enough. Beauty is the essence of God.

The first way we know this is through nature, the world God has given us. The earth in summer is brimming with beauty, beauty of such magnificence and variety and unembarrassed lavishness, ripe beauty, lush beauty, beauty given to us with such generosity and abundance it is almost scandalous.

Nature is not primarily functional. It is primarily beautiful. Stop for a moment and let that sink in. We're so used to evaluating everything (and everyone) by their usefulness, this thought will take a minute or two to dawn on us. Nature is not primarily functional. It is primarily beautiful. Which is to say, beauty is in and of itself a great and glorious good, something we need in large and daily doses (for our God has seen fit to arrange for this). Nature at the height of its glory shouts, Beauty is essential! revealing that Beauty is the essence of God. The whole world is full of his glory.


(Captivating , 23-24)

Echoes

This is such a familiar view, the back fields of my uncle's farm.  My dad and one of his brothers owned farms right across the road from each other.  Uncle Eddie's was the family homestead and the larger of the two.  Together they farmed, helping each other out with the various seeding and harvesting chores.  The two families were virtually merged as I grew up; cousins working right along side each other, one for all, all for one.  I spent as much time in my cousins' house as I did my own, eating countless doughnuts and fat molasses cookies.  I have to admit, for two very individualistic, firm headed men, they worked well together, as well as any team I've seen for more years than I can count.  Both have passed from this world, but their essence and echo lives on as I move around the farms, capturing lost moments with my camera. I am taken right back to my childhood as I visit these places, and it touches something long forgotten inside of me as I explore them again.

Fences going nowhere...

Broken down machinery.   Rusted works of art, abstracts my sister may paint someday...

And still the breath of God, in every swaying tree reaching skyward...that's home for me.

Baby Toes

I have such a thing for baby toes and little fingers.  I don't know what it is about them, but I just can't resist them!

A few more shots of little Addy, ones that just make me smile :-)

Photo Shoot With Addy

I had a chance to take some pictures of my beautiful great niece, Addison, while I was home on the weekend.  We commandeered my sister Debbie's yard and flower garden, and the whole family pitched in to help set up shots and entertain Addy while I snapped away, with some fantastic results I must say.  

What a gorgeous little angel she is, and I wish I had a baby picture of her daddy to show because she looks so much like him it is amazing!  Those blue eyes are absolutely breathtaking...

To see more photos of Addy check out Esynergy, my sister's blog.   Be sure to click on images to see in larger format.

And as always when I'm home, I love wondering around the old homesteads and seeing what draws my eye.  I'll share more of those in future posts.

Ocean View In Macro

I had a chance to go to the ocean for a couple of hours on my last day of vacation, and it was absolutely wonderful.  

This time I got lost in the close up detail of the life that was going on all around me in the waves, rocks and sand at my feet. The area of space that I covered was not very big, but I was amazed at everything that was there when I took the time to look up close. Makes me wonder how much we miss in a day because we fail to appreciate the micro moments.

 These pictures were taken with the standard kit lens that comes with the Nikon D80 camera and I must say it does a pretty good job at macro photography.

I enjoyed my little snail buddy.  I have all kinds of shells that I have collected over the years, but I have never observed a live one up this close.  Amazing!