Delightfully Blue
Today was one of those in-between days. You know what I mean. Nothing amazing to report. I spent the day paying bills and doing laundry. It sas a typical Monday, complete with a sense of being overwhelmed and overwrought. Yep, a normal Monday. I did make it to the grocery store though, where I found some beautiful berries. So when the sun went down and I still didn’t have my image for the day, I pulled them out of the fridge. Remembering my moody cabbage portrait, I tried to experiment with lighting these berries in different ways. It is interesting, the more I play with lighting the more I find the shots that I like. The more I practice (especially with inanimate objects who don’t get bored or impatient), the more comfortable I get with trying new things. It is a tribute to doing something every day, like writing this blog. Every day I am here posting something. I have come to see that it is okay if every post and every shot are not stellar. I am just doing something consistently the best I know how over a long period of time. I believe this is the definition of success, to do good work over a long period of time. Eventually, something wonderful will come out of it. The key is to keep going.
I tell myself these things when I get low and tired, like tonight. I believe it to be true and so I keep going, even on the in-between days. The fruit is still falling from my 2011 365 Project. I developed some friendships that year that I would not have had otherwise and my work moved to another level in its consistency and quality. I also sought God on a daily basis. I had to. I cannot do this project without God’s strength and life in me. That is the main reason I did it again this year. It is my way of holding myself accountable to seek him and to find beauty everyday.
It is my gift to myself, and he meets me everyday.
Even in some beautiful bowls of berries.
Psalm 27:4 ~”I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.”
Raspberry Red
Beautiful Blackberries
Extraordinary
5 Comments
I buy those same berries every week. Have you noticed how expensive they are? I still buy them anyway. Those berries are my dessert along with some plain Greek yogurt. I mean you have to have some good things that you look forward to in this life. Those berries are mine. So, you picked a good thing to photograph.
Mary Anne, Your words and your picture are stunning. You are gifted and God is using you to bless me. Thank you. I am a new blogger and struggle with the not good enough syndrome. I didn’t finish college, I have never written a book, and the list goes on. Yet I know God can use the ordinary to make extraordinary for His glory. I don’t want to underestimate our God, when I look through the lens of human eyes (my eyes) I do. May I look through His eyes and see what He sees and may you see and know how amazing, He is working through you. Bless you my Sister.
sanctuaryholyhill@blogspot.com.
Connie
p.s. Those pictures could be submitted to magazines such as Victoria, Cottages, Better Homes & Gardens etc.
Mary Anne,
I follow your blog on a daily basis but have never left a comment. My children are similar ages to yours, so I love how you include your family in your messages. Today, I need to thank you. Yes. We need to keep going. He does meet us every day…where ever we are on our life journey. One of the greatest blessings is promised to those who consistently apply what they know is found in John 13:17. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” You bless me. Thank-you, Mary Anne.
How could anyone not believe in God. The details in fruit alone should make the unbeliever at least wonder. The details. The shapes. Individual tastes. The colors. The fact that they provide their own sources to reproduce themselves with seeds. And their only purpose is to nourish the other creations that God made.
I just want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing, thank you for being open, honest and transparent. We really don’t know each other well but I admire you and think you are an amazing beautiful gifted woman of God. Bless you and thank you for blessing me (us).