When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” It was just another daily walk, nothing special until I saw the morning sunlight shining through the trees. This was a moment of seeing for me. I now see why God gave me my camera. He used it to draw me into his world. I began to see things, common things like trees, that I never really paid much attention to before. At the same time he was sharpening my eye he was teaching me to see scripture in new ways. When I walk in the world God created, I see him. I see him especially now in trees. If you look long enough you will see trees all throughout the Biblical story, from creation to the Garden of Eden to the cross and to Revelation. Tress give us life and beauty and it was on a tree that Jesus gave us new life. In the words of Martin Luther, “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
Now my challenge is the same one the shepherds faced. They had an amazing experience with the angels, now what were they going to do about it. They decided to go and see. How will I go and see? I have lived most all my life within 60 minutes or less of the mountains, yet I never had the desire to walk in them until my camera drove me to them. Now walking in nature has become more than a desire; it is a need. God can speak to us anywhere but I have found that I listen better when I walk in his world. It is when I walk in God’s world I see light . . . and trees. How will you go and see Jesus? Prayer Dear God Thank you for trees and the beautiful things you teach us through them. Open our eyes and our ears to listen to you as we walk in your world. Amen
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I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. It was a chilly morning in early November when I took this image of a tree at Cherokee Dam. It reminded me of another day I that I had taken a picture of a tree at the dam, an even colder Sunday afternoon, January 7, 2012. I had just bought my new camera, my first DSLR, to take pictures at my son’s wedding. I had always had a camera, even a digital camera, but this one was different. Unlike my previous cameras that worked mostly in “automatic” mode this one had all kinds of options. I decided that if I had a camera with this many possibilities I needed to learn to use them. I had no idea that this was the beginning of a journey to places I had never planned or expected to go.
When I look back on that day, now 10 years ago, I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened in the season of Epiphany. My camera has been a gift that God has used to help me develop a new and deeper perspective of His world and His word. While learning to use my camera, I also found new writers like N. T. Wright, Diana Butler Bass, Scot McKnight, Michael Card, Nancy Guthrie, Makoto Fujimura, and Tim Mackie and Jon Collins of the Bible Project who have opened up a whole new way of reading the Scriptures. I give thanks with all my heart for the epiphany that God has given me through my camera and the resources he has put in my way. I pray that my images and words tell of God’s wonderful deeds. What has God used in your life to bring an epiphany, a new way of seeing who He is? Prayer Lord God I give thanks to you with all my heart for the beauty of your world and your word. Amen But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. This is one of my favorite pictures of our first road trip through South Dakota. It happens to be in Custer State Park in the Black Hills. I have actually printed this image and it hangs in my sunroom. I love to look at it and come back to it again and again. Each time I look at it I remember the story behind it - how I wanted to get to a certain place for a sunset but a buffalo traffic jam kept us from getting there; how we found this random wide spot in the road to turn around and give up; how I walked up this little path and saw this tree and wide open valley before we turned around; how God gave me this image instead of the one I had wanted.
We all have experiences like this, experiences we treasure in our hearts. The visit of shepherds was an experience that Mary treasured in her heart. It must have been hard to have this incredible story of being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. It was quite a different story than most people expected. It was even hard for her to believe at first when she asked the angel, “how can this be?” Maybe it was these experiences, the things she treasured in her heart, that kept her going at times when things were not as she expected. On our recent trip to Custer State Park in South Dakota I wanted to go back and find this little spot again. However there was a road closure on that part of the loop road. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t see this view again, but God gave me new experiences, new images. I will still go back to places that I treasure but I will also pick up my camera and walk into God’s world to see new things that he has for me to treasure - new experiences with him. What are some experiences that you treasure? How can you be open to new experiences of God breaking into your life? Prayer Lord God Break into our lives and give us new treasures of your love that we can share with those we meet this day. Amen “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. The trees formed a frame around a vista that that I had never seen before, so different from my tree-covered mountains. Before our trip, I had thought of North Dakota as a boring wilderness. As I stood there that morning it was like looking through a window into a new world filled with beauty.
Here is where we stand this day, looking out on a new year. The wilderness becomes a place of beauty when we see it framed by the stories of those who journey with us. Through Jesus we have the promise of a new life, a living hope. We need each other to form a frame around the new way in the wilderness God is making for us. How can you, walking together with others, make your community a place of newness? Prayer Lord Jesus Give us the courage to look with others at the new places you are leading us as we journey ever closer to you. Amen |
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan