If I want to hone my photography skills with the tools of silence, listening, observation, and patience, I am going to need to learn about light. Okay, so I know years ago in my teenage years with my older camera that used film instead of a digital memory card, I carried flashbulbs with me in order to handle the many low light settings I would find. Later I didn’t need to carry flashbulbs because the camera had a built-in-flash.

 

Back in that era it was hard to know what I type of shot I would get because I didn’t have the advantage of an LCD monitor on the back of my camera to immediately see what the shot looked like. But if I am going to move up my skills from my current camera’s automatic settings, I need to move to the deeper end of the pool of photography and learn what all the amazing settings on the camera can do to enhance any photo.

 

Discovering the best light for what I want to shoot is not as simple as I wish and now requires me to learn more and risk some bad shots while I am practicing.

 

Notice how light impacts these photos with this post differently. What does the light help you see differently or highlight?

 

The best light may be a matter of preference and what I hope to capture and will move me from the previous years of taking outdoor shots on sunny days with everyone squinting to now discovering the effect of the early morning or late afternoon light. That means adjusting my preference to not rise before dawn or disrupt dinner plans. But the result can be worth the effort because light at those times will reveal textures, shadows, and depth in warm and vivid tones. It will capture a more interesting view of what I see through my lens.

 

Photographers more knowledgeable than I would also tell you the best light can sometimes occur during a change in the weather when rain or storms are approaching or fog blankets the surroundings. And I haven’t even begun to explore where the source of the light is in the frame I want to capture…behind the camera or from the side or the front.

 

Whatever the source of the light or time of day or weather will impact the illumination of the subject. Photography is not something I want to simply be taking a picture (although that can be fine sometimes). The word photography comes from two Greek words: phos meaning light and graphis meaning drawing. Photography at its best is really “drawing with light.”

 

What fascinates me about what I am learning is how much the Lord can enlarge my understanding of light from His vantage point. From the very beginning of time in the Bible light has been spoken about as what God used to remove darkness. It happens first in Genesis.

 

“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” Genesis 1:3 (ESV)

 

Both Old and New Testaments contrast dark and light. Often it is used as a metaphor regarding good and evil, God and the evil forces, or believers and unbelievers.

 

The Bible makes clear darkness is never equal in power to God’s light.

 

Jesus is characterized, as a Light to the world. The Word makes clear that in Him there is no darkness. But we have a part to play in all this as well. Jesus not only tells His disciples in Matthew 5 that they are “the salt of the earth” as I recently wrote about, He also says in the same chapter one verse later that we (disciples) are the light of the world.

 

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)

 

What does that mean for me, for you, in the midst of a world that seems to have an abundance of darkness?

 

One thing is certain that if we are His children and have accepted Him, our identity is no longer darkness, but rather it is light. And there is a purpose for us in that. We are not to simply bask in the light He has created within us. Instead we are to be what I heard a pastor recently say, “We are supposed to be darkness chasers.” Whatever light we have is to shine the truth into the darkness and bring glory to God.

 

We don’t need to have an enormous light to make a difference. Consider how much one small candle can illuminate a darkened room.

 

For this light to shine forth from us means we must walk in the light and not be drawn aside into the shadows and darkness. Listen to John’s admonition:

 

^5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  1 John 1:5-7 (ESV)

 

His light in us has the capacity to reflect into the darkness only as long as we walk with Him, abide with Him, and stay true to the truth of His Word.

 

It also means we need to be responsible for the amount of light He has granted us and to shine wherever that may be.

 

“God has brought us into the light of His Truth, and we are to honor that always, both in our hearts and in our everyday lives.” Steve & Cheri Saccone.

And, if we do that,

 

“we can join His heavenly pursuits in some small way with the people He has placed in our path, then that is a gift in and of itself. “ Steve & Cheri Saccone.

 

The challenge for us?

 

Stay salty,  shine brightly, and chase the darkness.

 

 

 

If you walk into my home and start checking the drawers, you will discover some that are neat and orderly while others are definitely not! A careful observation will give you clues as to what tools I find most helpful whether in the kitchen, den, or workshop. There are lots of gadgets and devices out there to help you accomplish almost any task you want to do, but some of them are more hype and trendy than helpful. (Those are the ones I need to pitch out of those cluttered drawers.) And as my husband would say, “You need the right tool for the job.”

 

One of my goals is to improve my photography. I want to discover something new each time I look through my lens even if I am focusing on something I have seen many times before. To that end, I took a photography workshop with a gifted professional photographer not long ago.

 

I learned a great deal and left the workshop encouraged and inspired. I wanted to immediately try a few things I learned and some of my efforts are the photos with this post that I took on a walk at a park a few days ago.

 

Of all the many things I learned at the workshop, one of the things that lingers was a list of four tools that will enhance your photography skills: silence, listening, observation, and patience.

 

I am aware I have much to learn to reach my goals in photography and these tools will help, but what struck me as I reflected on them this week is how powerful these tools are in every area. I realized that I used every one of them when I was a teacher and also when I worked as a clinical counselor. But more importantly, they offer the very best skill set for any of us in our relationships.

 

How much of a difference would it make if you utilized those with your friends when you were meeting for coffee or your spouse or your children?

 

How could they impact your relationship with the Word and deepen your sense of connection with the Lord?

 

I know from experience that I can only listen well when I silence the internal conversation running on the conveyor belt in my head that never seems to stop. Only then can I truly listen with my whole being to what someone might be saying, to what the Lord might want to say, and to what the Word is trying to say to me.

 

What do I observe? What do I notice about the setting, the tense of the words used, the tone and texture of the words used? That helps me engage my curiosity and when I am reading in the Word, it brings the story into three dimensions. How much are we missing by simply reading for information, not putting ourselves in the story?

 

I was reminded of that as I watched the funeral of Billy Graham and heard Anne Graham Lotz talk about how her mother taught her to read scripture by always putting her name in it. Then she added how in reading scripture with her dad, he included questions and thinking and dialogue. How much richer the truths of the Word became as a result of these two ways she learned from her parents, rather than simply reading it as we most often do. I think the truth found in scripture must have been woven into the fabric of Anne’s life as well as her siblings as a result of these ways of interacting with the Word.

 

I think recognizing the Hebrew word for truth is emeth, which is fundamentally defined as relationship, could help us. Judith Kunst describes it as “knowing truth the way you know a person. And not just static knowing, in the sense of acquaintance or identification, but the back-and-forth, unpredictable, sometimes terrifying knowing that comes part and parcel with our deepest commitments.”

 

If our deepest commitment is with the Lord, investing ourselves in the interaction with Him is central.

 

At Billy Graham’s funeral we all heard that John 14:6 will be inscribed on his tombstone. John 14:6 (ESV) reads:

 

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

Many of us nod in affirmation and agreement with that verse. Sometimes the focus lands on the second sentence, but if we use the tools of silence, listening, observation, and patience what would we come to understand about the first things Jesus says?

 

What if we put ourselves in the story we are reading from Genesis to Revelation and observe? What would it really be like to walk up Mount Moriah with Abraham, to be the woman at the well, or to stand at the foot of the cross when Jesus was hanging there? What would the weather be like? What would the path feel like beneath our sandal-shod feet? What aromas would we smell?

 

To discover that level of relationship and truth requires silence, listening, observation, and patience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would be splendid if we all felt as if we could talk with others about our faith, about God, comfortably and without wavering in our beliefs. For many (if not most) of us, that can be easier said than done. Even if we have been trained in some type of evangelism, today’s polarized world gives evidence that a “program” often will not work as well as we hope.

 

Steve and Cheri Saccone address that very issue in their new book, Talking About God: Honest Conversations About Spirituality. Rather than a formula or a step-by-step plan, they offer their experience and insight through six examples of themes most of us know are prominent when we start to talk with someone about God. They do so by inviting us into conversations with six different individuals who are each “on the other side of faith” and how they respond.

 

The book is designed to address these questions that they highlight at the outset:

 

“As followers of Jesus, how do we hold on to our convictions and cherished beliefs while giving other people the space to hold on to their own as well? And even more complicated than that, how do we spread the message of the hope we have, the Good News, without dishonoring, belittling, or insulting people in the process?”

 

The reality often is that our message gets lost in how we fail to give dignity to the person we would like to reach. We can be tempted to talk more than we listen, offer platitudes, or be condescending and disingenuous in our approach.

 

Listen to how Steve and Cheri respond to these common issues:

 

“If there’s a time when dignity should be front and center, it’s when we’re talking about God. We Christ followers talk much about love when it comes to showing and spreading our faith, as we should. But what does love really look like? Love looks a lot like dignity. It recognizes the gravity of a person. It recognizes the worthiness of a person. And it is truly genuine.”

 

I found the pages between the cover of this book to be filled with wisdom and insight. Additionally, they modeled more of how Jesus approached or responded to those who were not His followers when He walked the earth. He listened well and loved them without compromising the truth. Most of us need more practice to improve how we represent Him.

 

The authors give some lists of do’s and don’ts after giving us a window into their understanding of how to apply the truths of how we love people and show them Jesus.

 

One of the premises that is foundational is this:

 

“People cannot lead others where they have not gone. And they ought not ask others to do what they are not willing to do themselves. So often, we as Christ followers ask people who are from God to do what we who are close to God are not able or willing to do – to be authentic, vulnerable, and emotionally honest.”

 

 This book is one that shows in the telling of the conversations as Steve and Cheri expose us to these themes:

 

• Someone who is struggling to feel the presence of God at a heart level
• Someone who is having difficulty embracing the claim that Jesus is the only way to salvation
• Someone who is battling between self-reliance and God-reliance
• Someone whose shame holds them back from receiving grace and forgiveness
• Someone who is stuck from the effect of depression and anxiety
• Someone who is caught in an unmanageable battle involving sexuality

 

As you read these real-life stories, I think you will learn much and often return to this book’s pages to discover the authors’ gifted responses to talking about God with others, ways that offer dignity and set aside a formulaic approach that doesn’t look very much like love or Jesus.

 

To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.