365 Project Day 45: Vessels of Glory

Canon 5D Mark ll, 50mm1.2 L, 1.6 aperture, 1/640 aperture, 100 ISO

I was caught, enamored even, with this brilliant display this afternoon. I had moved the bottles from their previous place on a shelf to the window in kitchen. I was just passing through the kitchen on my way out the door to the mall. I saw the bottles, the light, the colors, and suddenly nothing else seemed important. I was in. I never made it to the mall. (rescued!) I got my gear and tried nearly every perspective endeavoring to capture what my spirit was feeling. It wasn’t enough to capture the bottles sitting in the window. I had to move them around, everywhere I could find a square of sunshine and then move my lens to the places where the colors were the most striking. When Katie came in and saw me on the floor leaning over bottles and asked me what I was doing, I said I was “playing”. And I was. These are the best moments in my photography. I am having a conversation with myself, with God, and even with my inanimate objects. ” Thank you, Father, so beautiful.” Now, maybe this way.” “No the other way was better.” ” No, they are not straight…” “Beautiful!”  sigh. These are all typical.

The photo reminds me so much of us as people and the glory we all carry within us. We are the best we will ever be when the Light of God is shining through us. Otherwise, we are often just a colored bottle on a shelf. We can try to shine, but unless He moves us to the window and shines through us, our efforts are in vain. If these bottles were full of objects or a substance of any kind (besides clear water), the effect would not be the same. It seems empty vessels shine the most brilliantly. Emptied out of our own efforts, we finally show our truest and best colors in the luminous sun.

This is so hard to learn, especially on a Monday, when that list is up and at me again, reminding me of all I need to be doing. It is a false list. I love how Ann Voskamp  addresses this in her book  One Thousand Gifts, “ I stop the spinning thoughts, the probing questions, the hands sorting, the laundry work, because God needs knees more than hands.” I love that.  So much more can be accomplished, enjoyed even, when we give over the worries of our lives to a competent and strong God who cares for us.

And So I empty myself once again, and wait in the sunlight for the glory to shine. Think of it, no prism, no lens flare, no rainbow, no color coming through a bottle, no twinkle in the eye, exists without light. The Light. I am a light chaser, in my photography and in my life.

Psalm 118:27~ ” The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us”.

John 8:12~ “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Shine on. Can’t wait to see your colors.