One of the things with photography is that sometimes I see something in a photo after downloading that I didn’t see in the moment. Since I last posted, we’ve had snow, ice, rain, cold, and a few brief glimpses of sunlight. It has made for some very different senses of my bench. I’ll post the most recent “bench” photos at the end. But there was one photo one of those mornings that was an unexpected moment.
This was a miserable morning to be out for a walk with Scout. It was cold, drizzly, grey, and dreary and the rain was making the snow just turn into slush. Neither of us were enjoying the walk. So we first stopped at the 7:45 bench (photos of that below) and then walked around a bit to this spot. In the moment, I was focused on the swirls of melting ice on the lake and the slush that was getting my feet cold and wet in my not-so-waterproof-any-longer shoes. I was not looking at all at the church on the left. It wasn’t until later in the day when I downloaded the photos that I saw that glimpse of sunlight reflecting off the white stone of the church. I honestly didn’t see any sunlight at all but there it was. It was truly an “awe” moment when I saw it on my screen.
A few days later, I had my time with my counselor and we were talking through a lot of what had taken place since we had last met in early December and, after a bit of me sharing both the happenings and trying to get at those darn f-words (feelings) about them, she asked me, “where is your lift in all of this?” In that moment, I was stuck in the reflecting on the grey and the clouds and the “flood.” I am grateful that she was trying to help me to see the glints of sunlight. She wasn’t ignoring the other things but asking me where I was going to find “lift” in the midst of it all. I did think of this photo but I looked ahead especially to a retreat I have coming up this week that is going to be led by Carrie Newcomer. I am looking forward to those few days away to just soak in the gift of music and reflection and rest. Also, my daughter says I need to be careful not to “fanboy” too much at the retreat.
But as you can see from the photos of the bench below, just in these last 11 days, there’s been a lot. Snow, ice, rain, a few glimpses of sunlight, and then today it is completely covered after the rain we’ve had the last few days. Goodness, that’s life isn’t it? All these things mixed together in the span of a few days? But I am trying to keep going back to my counselor’s question, “where is the lift?”
In one of our congregation’s small groups, we are working through MaryAnn Dana’s book, Hope: A User’s Manual. Last week, we talked through one of her reflection questions which is:
Do you find most of your energy in the past, present, or future of your life? How does this orientation move you deeper into hope, or take you away from it?1
Like I shared in my last post, I have tended to be much more future- or past-oriented but I feel like this growing edge for me right now is the present moment. Just being in the moment when my feet were damp from the not-so-waterproof-anymore hikers and Scout and I were miserable in the cold and wet or the moment when I happened to see the glint of sunlight off the church or I was in the exact right place at the exact right time to see the sunrise reflecting off a chunk of ice.


Which of these bench images of the last few days reflects your present moment?






Oh and Scout doing her job chasing geese…she takes her job very seriously…
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 28). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.