Michael is a master floral designer, and he has the wonderful talent of taking a bunch of flowers and arranging them into a work of art. Many years ago, I wandered into his flower shop and asked if he could teach me how to arrange flowers. Despite my initial feeble efforts, I was soon making Valentine gifts of floral bouquets for the retired Sisters of Mercy. Now, this respected mentor was reviewing my photo portfolio to market to the worldwide net. As he sat in front of the computer scrutinizing hundreds of images, he was designing in his mind a unique approach to display the photo gallery.Instead of listing holidays or seasons of the years, the search became a journey into capturing scenes that portrayed the divine seeds of celebration and healing. His imagination focused on looking for images that portrayed the spirit of joy and thanksgiving. As I moved the cursor from one file to another, we had no difficulty downloading images that illustrated images of healing and gratitude. However, our search started to crawl for photos that reflected a sensed of joy and happiness. I wished that I had taken more baby pictures, birthday parties, weddings, or children blowing soap bubbles. However my moments of grace were found in enchanted forests with babbling creeks, foggy mornings on a bay, mountain valleys, but where was the sunshine?
I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable to think that after a decade of photography, most of my images would best be labeled as “somber and serene.” Ministry had focused on helping folks cope with their trials and difficulties. The unconscious impact on our personality might be the tendency to see only the darkness. Nothing wrong in being serious and somber, but maybe this insight meant that I needed to make more room in my life for a little more joy. It was time to look for rainbows and ice creme sundaes, glory rays and hot air balloons. In case you forgot despite the stresses of everyday life, God wants us all to be as happy as this horse photo that needs a good caption to go along with his grin. Submit your suggestions on-line and I'll post for your enjoyment.
God prays for us as we reflect: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.” (Psalm 30:11).
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends whose heavy crosses have made them serious and somber. Help us to find the joy in our everyday lives. May your Spirit inspire in us to be more mindful of the joy that bathes our life and soul with Your divine happiness.
