He Will Withhold No Good Thing

I have a tendency towards pessimism.  I can focus far too easily on that one thing which went wrong instead of the multitude of things that went right.  Significant failures can plague me for weeks and even years.

Such-and-such isn't working

So-and-so is too difficult to deal with

This-and-that are endlessly frustrating

Light dispels darkness.

Yesterday, a friend reminded me to look around and choose to be thankful for all the undeserved gifts that come daily.  Posted prominently on the wall at home, she has these words written:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.   - Psalm 84:11

She finds life and encouragement in these words, believing as I do that God is a good Father who gives good gifts to His children.  This stuck with me and as I went on with my day, it rang through my mind - No good thing does he withhold.

Discovering a new forest path on a rainy afternoon.  Wonderful conversations with close friends.  Previously abandoned hopes unexpectedly fulfilled.  Cool breeze in the early mornings.  Unexpected camping trips.  As I think on events large and small over the last month, I see many of them as wonderful and undeserved gifts.

Look for those gifts.  Look for those good things - even and especially when life is difficult.

What gifts have you been given recently?

This life has much goodness, if we have eyes to see.

Build Your Central Park

It's 7 PM.  A pair of sparrows stop briefly by to twitter on about something important while joggers and canines breeze by.  Sun shines from behind as I sit on our deck.  Reflecting.  Resting, if only for a short while.

Thoughtful wanderings at dusk at the Howard County Conservancy.

It is easy to say yes to so many activities that we suddenly find ourselves running too fast to think or even process the very events surrounding us.  Such has happened to me far too often in recent years; consequently, I've discovered that I must deliberately carve out time to not doing anything that I'd consider stressful.

Two weeks ago, I shared several lessons learned reading Jon Acuff's Start.  Another huge reminder in his book was this advice from his friend, Al Andrews:

Build Your Central Park

New York City has a giant green space in the midst of skyscrapers, a world of relaxation nestled in the midst of a kingdom of frenzied movement.  What if that city had no central park?  What if our lives have no built-in place of respite and recreation?

What recharges you?  How do you rest?  For me, taking time to be out in the wilderness, writing, playing music, or good conversation with a close friend is soul-restoration.  I need this time to thrive.  Without it, I merely survive.

Build yourself a Central Park.  Guard it.  Nurture it.  And perhaps you'll find the times in which you work and strive and create to be all the more focused and impactful.

We need to take breaks from our busyness to recreate, recenter, and revive.

Light Up The Snowstorm

Last weekend, I went to Deep Creek Lake with several amazing people to film our next season of TheMooMoe.  Check it out because it's ridiculous.

Because it's April now and the trees are blooming, it snowed the whole weekend.  And I was finally able to to what I had been unable to do most of the winter - practice taking fun portraits of people in the snow.

Off-camera flash is an art of which I have wanted to develop greater mastery for some time now.  Natural light portraiture is an adventure because one is constantly looking to find a great scene, a great story written in sunbeams and shadows.  With off-camera flash, one can create whatever scene they dream up.

View fullsize

The past month has offered several chances to jump in and experiment.  I'm quite happy with the results of the weekend, using the sun as one light source and my flash as another.

I finally have learned how to use my wireless radio triggers.  It's been a lot of troubleshooting over the years because I'm one of those people who usually doesn't read the manual.  Actually, I think I tried the manual, but the English translation of the original language made approximately zero sense.  I digress.  Lessons Learned:

• Shutter speed: less than 1/250 of a second. 
• Batteries: charged and ready in the flash, the receiver, and the transmitter units (Finally got all three this weekend.  Sheesh). 
• Light Stand:  ballasted with a sandbag because the wind is going to knock the umbrella over.  Even if there is no wind.

Get outside and practice your craft.  Make mistakes.  Learn from them.  Repeat.  Enjoy.  Celebrate the successes.  Eat a really large pizza at 4 AM.  Sleep.  Get up.  Keep winning.

Stop Sleeping and Start Winning

Wherever you are is a great place to begin.  Full Steam Ahead.

I'm reading Jon Acuff's Start.  It's hilarious.  And wonderfully helpful.  Read it.

Get out of bed.  Go to the library, and get the book.  Or buy it at Barnes and Noble.  I am sure Jon Acuff would rather you buy it.  You'll be responsible for another delicious Acuff family dinner.

No, I am not an affiliate marketer, I just thoroughly enjoy the book.

Here are three thoughts/revelations/summarizations I have based on the first few chapters:

1. Be ruthlessly honest about your current circumstances.  You want to go somewhere.  You've dreamed about it for years.  Maybe you have a notebook full of ideas and magazine clippings.  But you have to know where you are to figure out the path to where you want to go.  Don't lie to yourself.  Perhaps you truly need to get some schooling and apprentice yourself.  Perhaps you need to get out of debt.  You need to face your obstacles.  On the flip side, perhaps all the stuff you tell yourself is in the way is only in your mind.  Tell the voices to shut up, because they're wrong.  And start.
2. Ask the right questions.  Acuff writes that we should be asking, "What brings me the most joy?" when searching for something amazing towards which to work.  Money is a byproduct.  What makes you joyful?  What gives you purpose and meaning?  Let happiness be the byproduct of meaningful pursuits.  And dare to find something you love to do.
3. Today is always the best day to turn around.  If the road you are walking is lonely and dark, you can turn around.  It may take a long time to get back to sunnier skies, yes, but you can turn around today.  Enlist the help of trusted friends.  Carve out time to rest.  Do the work to heal from the wounds you are carrying.

Take stock of your current circumstances.  Cast a vision for a joyful future.  Start moving.

I am hoping, as a follower of Jesus, to hear the words "well done" at the end of my lifetime.  I've made a lot of mistakes, and I will make many more.  But I want to move forward and chase down a life of joy and purpose and delight, whether at work or in my relationships or whatever else is going on in my life.

Don't settle.  Run towards something grand.  Fight through adversity.  Get up and get going.  You are far too valuable for anything less.