Tag Archives: seeing

God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Bizarre

This photo of cormorants sitting in a tree was taken at the Florida Everglades. These birds eat small to medium sized fish which they catch by swimming under the surface of the water. They are amazing swimmers; under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some have been found to dive as deep as 150 ft.

Both cormorants and anhingas (another underwater swimmer) can be seen drying their wings out in the sun because their feathers get waterlogged and make it difficult to fly. I remember the first time I saw a bird (probably an anhinga) sitting in a tree with its wings outstretched. It struck me as almost bizarre, because I did not know it why it was doing so.

The same thing happen with human behavior. We view the actions of others as bizarre or inappropriate. Often we don’t know a thing about them or their background.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Top of the World

While at Acadia, we spent most of a day hiking Cadillac Mountain. We went up the North Trail to the top. Every few minutes, we would stop, turn around, and look at the view of Bar Harbor and the coastline. This photo was taken at the top. Bar Harbor is just a small collection of white dots with 2 cruise ships.

Making this hike gave me a “Top of the world” feeling. You could also call it a mountaintop experience. I believe these experiences are a recognition of goodness. The goodness of God. Maybe we recognize the goodness in nature. Maybe the goodness in someone else, a stranger even. Or in ourself.

We want to remain in these moments, but that is not possible because life goes on. If you stay on top of the mountain, you’re going to get cold and hungry. And if you stay too focused on the last experience, you might miss the next one.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Erosion

This is a photo taken in Makoshika State Park, Montana. What you see here is largely the result of erosion, which could be thought of as addition by subtraction. Michelangelo famously stated “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

I like to think of this scene as an example of God sculpting. Something similar happens in our lives. Unnecessary things get stripped away to allow God’s goodness to show through.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Knowledge

This photo is a view of Sand Beach in Acadia, taken from the Beehive summit (we hiked up the back side). I find it striking to see this strip of sand between the ocean and a lagoon. Mount Desert Island, where most of Acadia is located, has mostly rocky shore. So this beach is doubly unusual. I tried to find out more information about why this beach exists the way it does, but couldn’t find much more than a comment about the fine sand existing due to the cove protecting the beach from strong waves.

These days, I’m more amazed when I can’t find the information I’m looking for than when I can. The news is filled with commentary about the potential use (or misuse) of AI. It seems the more we know, the more we know we don’t know.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Clearly Seen

This photo is a view of Jordan Pond, looking across at the South Bubble in Acadia NP. It is thought to be the remnant of a glacier. This water is so clear that you can typically see 44 feet down. I’ve found that it is very hard to judge the depth of the water when it is so clear. Of course, it is also very difficult to judge the depth of the water when it is very murky! I guess you could say the difference is in seeing or not seeing what you don’t know.

It is said that “Seeing is believing” but it is important to remember that we are easily misled by what we see.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Patience

This is a photo of the Bar Island Trail, part of the Acadia National Park. At least, this is the location of the trail, but it happens to be disappearing underwater at the moment. It is only accessible during low tide. Good luck if you cross over to the island and don’t return before the tide rises!

God always answers our prayers, but not always when we expect an answer. Doors open and close, but often only in hindsight (if ever) does the timing make sense. Faith and patience go hand in hand.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Bubbles

This is a photo of Bubble Pond in Acadia National Park. I like that these rocks in the ponds look like they could be the bubbles. The actual Bubbles are hills, not visible in this photo. They stand about 800 high.

Bubbles could represent many different things in our lives: joys, blessings, trials, disappointments. Life is full of “bubbles”, some are big and some not. See them for what they are.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Persistence

This is a photo of Beaver Ponds in Acadia NP. As we explored around the water, we saw this large beaver dam holding the water back.

Busy as a beaver. I’ve seen beavers at work and a more accurate phrase may be persistent as a beaver. I realize the alliteration is missing so it doesn’t have the same ring to it. But I’ve come to think of persistence as more of a virtue than busyness. Persistence implies an intentionality whereas busyness sounds like doing random things for the sake of being busy. Persistence also seems linked to another biblical virtue, patience.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Assistance

One of our days at Acadia was spent biking on the carriage roads. We rented E-bikes; this was a new experience for the 4 of us. It had been explained to us how the E-bikes work, but still none of us really knew what to expect.

Getting the “assist” with pedaling was almost unnoticeable – it was even difficult to recognize when you were going uphill other than watching your speed and power level.

I think that is a good metaphor for God’s presence in our lives. God is assisting us, and not just at the times when it is obvious.

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