The Photographer's Personal Pondering 11: Christmas Commercialization

I found this post at the under-appreciated and nearly daily blogger by the the name of photographingeveryday. She expressed these thoughts about Christmas with the fervor of a sister protecting her brother. How could I do any better?

Day 344: True Meaning of Christmas

Nathaniel's first Christmas soon. When he grows up, I'm going to make sure that he doesn't fall into the whole "Christmas is about getting presents from Santa and having a Christmas tree" thing. Because it's not about that. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ. I was upset when one of the Glee characters said that the center of Christmas was the Christmas tree. WHAAT?! And I was even more upset to the fact that little kids are watching this show and think that Christmas is nothing more than getting gifts and surrounding a tree. Sorry, I know this can be argued, I'm just upset because the true meaning of Christmas is lost. It's true meaning is centered around Christ. Not the freaking Christmas tree nor Santa. This is my faith, and I'm sorry if I have offended you (if you aren't Christian). 

-sigh- It's sad that people get fooled by big corporations and spend spend spend tons of money on presents. Oh don't get me wrong, I love getting presents too and I know it's also about giving. I'm just upset that the meaning is lost and replaced by advertisement of Santa's face and Christmas trees and having to spend too much money which could be spent helping people who need the help (homelessness, poverty, etc etc). More children believe in Santa Claus than Jesus now too. >.< Okay, enough of that. Goodnight.

~ POSTED BY PHOTOGRAPHINGEVERYDAY 
on december 12, 2010 AT 11:54 PM

Posted with permission. All copyrights and redistribution rights are retained by the original poster, photographingeveryday @ http://photographingeveryday.blogspot.com. Please contact her if you would like to repost this on your own blog or site.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 10: Management

Well, I don't feel like I've been managing my time the best I could lately. I don't think I need to be productive 24/7, but what I have done appears in hindsight to be less than efficient. I was having some difficulty sleeping for the past few weeks and now that I'm getting more sleep, I realize a few inefficient habits have developed because of the extra time I had when I wasn't sleeping. Mostly organization and ordering.

Management is a big and daunting task. To order ourselves efficiently takes time, but at what point does the time taken for order outweigh the time that would have been taken if the job had just been tackled from the get go. I know that I have fallen into less planning here lately, but I've spent most of my life on the too much planning side. So which is better, to plan or not?

That's a hard question to answer since the answer isn't the same for every life event. I don't know when I should plan or when I should just do the job. I'm still working that out. I do know that if I stay close to God, He'll guide me, and you, when I don't plan enough and when I plan too much.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 9: Communication

Ever find yourself in a situation where you just couldn't seem to communicate? Either the audience, whether they were a massive crowd or a meager one and only, wouldn't listen or didn't understand what you were saying. Perhaps you didn't speak the same language or understood  the same statement in two different ways. Maybe you and audience were actually telling each other identical information using different words. Regardless of the cause, the outcome is at best a misunderstanding, and at worst a relationship destroying quarrel.

Now if it's so hard for us humans to communicate with each other, imagine trying to communicate with beings of another realm, such as angels. How were we supposed to reconcile with God when we couldn't reach Him? We weren't. It was impossible and God knew this, which is why He sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to open our hearts to His declarations.

So if our hearts are open to Him then all is right and good now, isn't it? Well not quite. We might be able to talk with Him as with a father or brother, but so often we choose not too. We have the opportunity to talk about anything with the creator of the universe, and we opt not. Maybe we just don't think that the Almighty would want to hear about our trivialities. I certainly understand that stance and I think He does too, which is why he tells us to bring everything to Him through prayer and supplication. He knows that we will assume Him to be too busy or important to deal with the little things and so he commands that we tell him everything all the time.

Who knows, perhaps if you talk to the Savior of the world about nothing, you could talk to anyone else about something. Without the quarreling.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 8:Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is all about the food.

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...You didn't really think I would leave it at that did you? No, most of us know that Thanksgiving is much more than just another food fest. There's a multitude of things I could talk about or discuss, but plenty of other bloggers will probably do a better job explaining things than I could. So I'm going to list three things I'm thankful for.

For one: my family. It seems like something that is or should be on everyone's list, but I really am thankful for the family I have. My dad is unceasing in providing more for my family than we could ask, and my mom equally so in using that provision in the wisest ways possible.

Secondly: my fiancée. She is all around kind and diligent, as well as my future. She is also a blogger, so hop on over here if you want to see what she is like for yourself.

Trés: my living conditions. I have seen so many things on the television this past year that I realize just how "rich" I live. I haven't a want or need beyond the frivolous.

I've been listening to the pastors on the radio quite a bit lately and I am noticing a certain theme keeps creeping up this year. That theme is how when one is truly thankful, they will do something to show appreciation rather than settling for a vocal "thank you."

I don't know how many readers I have, or where all of you are, but thanks for reading and have a blessed Thanksgiving!

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 7: Empathy

Empathy - noun

1. the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2. the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself: By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010. 

What a strange thing that we humans can empathize. To feel feelings, whether real or perceived, which are not our own. I don't know how many times a movie or video game has drove me to certain emotions even though none of the characters are real. So empathy can be manipulated, but without it at all the world would be a dismal place.

God gave us empathy, but why? I think it is a shadow of Him, a manufacturer's mark if you will. Empathy plays a huge role in love. Without it we wouldn't have any way of comprehending another's emotion. Most of the best social qualities rely on perception and empathy. Relationships are God's highest priority (especially our relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ) and without empathy most would be strictly business.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 5: Disappointment

Today I went to get my haircut and couldn't because of the barber shop's unscheduled closure. Now I was disappointed about not getting an haircut, but that isn't enough disappointment to prompt me to write. No, what stirred me was the sign on the door that one of the two barbers was gone for the week with health issues and the other out for the day because of a doctor's appointment. I was disappointed that these great guys were unable to do what they like to do because of health.

Disappointment is so basic, so common that I don't pay it much mind from day to day. It's an area of my life that I leave relatively untouched by God. I don't let Him move me with it or remove it when it isn't healthy. I ignore the feelings of disappointment, or let them continue naturally.

I don't know exactly were I wanted to go with this, so I'll leave it open. If you want to comment and add to these thoughts, please do. My final remark is that disappointment is a symptom of the Fall and designed to point us to the savior of all fallen, Jesus. Belief and trust in Him will not remove those symptoms entirely, but releases the bonds of slavery to those feelings enabling you to live uninhibited, but not sinful. If not now, then in the future.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 4: Light

Wow, okay.

Light.

Light is one of the most abundant and least understood elements of our world. We know a lot about how to manipulate and harness light, but little when it comes to what light is and how far we can push it to accomplish our goals. Regardless of what light is or how it can be used, light is the photographer's sustenance.

Whether we're talking about mood, shutter speed, film speed, or aperture settings, light is the topic of the hour. When you get into the deeper levels of photography and start to understand what is fast or slow, what is opened or closed, you realize that the Sun emits so much more light than anything man-made.

Isn't that the way it is though? The Son, God's Son Jesus, radiates with so much light that our efforts seem abnormally dim. In places that lack the Lord's light it is difficult to capture a person's heart and focus. With our own little lights it is impossible, but with Jesus' light through us our immediate area becomes more visible. As the Son dawns there everything starts to clear and the muck hides, leeching into darkness.

Someday the entire universe will be bathed in the Son's light and all that is vile will have nowhere to hide. Mmmm... what a wonderful day that will be.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 3: Time

What is time.

        Time is created.
                Time is decay.
                           Time is ending.
                                 Time is cruel.
                                     Time is healing.
                                         Time is grace.
                                      Time is an eraser of memories.
                                  Time is nostalgic.
                              Time is repetitive.
                      Time is money.
            Time is trivial.
    Time is life.
Time is dying.
         Time is measurable.
                        Time is without limits.

Time is...

... Something I don't have a lot of. I have many things I want to do, but not the time or the strength to do them all at once. Sometimes I don't do anything for everything I have on my list to do. When I am doing well a lot gets done. When I am not little gets done. Whatever gets done, there is always more to do even if I don't feel like doing it. Doing too much isn't good for one's health, but neither is doing to little. No matter, with God's help I can do just the right things.

I hope you can understand this loose collection of thoughts. Oh, and just one more thing...

Thyme is good!

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 2: Lazy Lazy Lazy

Gracey the chihuahua living like royalty. Picture taken before noon.

I feel lazy. Don't you hate it when you feel like that? I admit I can be lazy on the weekdays when I don't go to "work". I sleep way too long and accomplish little until the afternoon rolls around. I could list all things I'm doing and make a case for why I'm not all that lazy but, I won't. I won't because I think I might just have fallen into a habit of laziness. I look around and I see I'm no lazier than any other American (the majority anyway), but I'm reminded in the Bible that we shouldn't compare ourselves to one another. No, even if I neglect comparing myself to Christ and compare myself to other biblical figures I can't find a good one that outdoes me in the laziness department.

Hmmm... By saying I have the habit of lazy, I don't mean resting when needed. I'm talking about resting for no reason. Resting when there are things to be done. A bit like gluttony when one eats because one can. I could go a while on that one too, but I won't. I'm going to purpose to do better. I can't promise I will do better, but with God's help I don't know how I could fail!

So, that's all I wanted to say, and boy do I feel lazy. I think I'll  go back to bed....

Gracey the chihuahua continuing her beauty rest. Picture taken after noon.

The Photographer's Personal Ponderings 1: "Rightism"

In the words of one of my college classmates, "I'm stupid-busy!" Now I don't usually condone the use of the word stupid, but here I think it could fit. I sometimes get so caught up in the tangibles of my life (work, school, play) that I let the intangibles (holiness, emotions, relationships) slip away, which is stupid. The tangibles don't matter without the intangibles. Holiness is particularly important since God should be first in all of life and when He isn't, old and new sins creep in.

Particularly, I'm thinking of perfectionism and its seemingly benign way of tearing our fellow man down. I like to call perfectionism, rightism. The word perfectionism almost sounds good if you don't know what it means and how it is used. In fact, truly striving for perfection is good, but selectively requiring it of someone else isn't. So I call perfectionism, rightism because I think rightism correctly describes the attitude of "I'm right and you're doing it wrong." I know I unleash rightism on those around me all too often. I require more of others than I do of my self and end up hurting them in the process.

It all stems from my feeling of inferiority or my desire of obvious superiority. Both of those ailments can be treated by God through prayer and the listening of His word. I just read in my Bible today that, "[Wisdom] will mock when your terror comes, because [wisdom has] called and you refused [wisdom] (Proverbs 1:24, 26)." So, I say, don't refuse wisdom's call either directly or indirectly by being "stupid-busy." Now you need to work on that... I mean... I'm going to work on that. ;^)