Personal triumph

So often we believe that success is tangible, why is this? For with God’s strength, anything is possible, and with His timing, we live our lives accordingly.

Life is not an exam.  For, as students we strive for a particular grade, study appropriately, and receive the teacher’s choice of a mark.  Although God does judge us in the end, our studies, our process of getting to know Him are not always something to be mastered at any one time.

Life is hard.  We are given personal trials, battles, and missions everyday; is it our choice when we feel accomplished?

Unlike a flower beginning to dismay, we do not fall apart petal by petal.  For through being set back, we are humbled and recognize our brokenness.  In this feeling of defeat, we are then transformed by His all-knowing grace, and made in His image.

The greatest victory of all.

Although the American dream may be to work hard in one organization, promotion, succession, victory, and a hefty pay check, we are called to start lower than the lowest paying position at a workplace.  Perhaps, the first position should be a bagel and coffee runner to the custodian. God calls His people to serve the servants, not be slave owners.

Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers. (Proverbs 11:14, NLT)

Then again, Christians do make great leaders, but do we know the right direction for a company?  Often times, leaders are visionary and know where they are headed and have a plan on how to get there.  Are these visions automatically from the Lord or is it possible that aside from good and evil –God and Satan– humans have their own instincts too?

For me, God knows all in advance, but does not participate in our living as a puppeteer, but comes down to give consistent command when praised and asked.  He is always within us as the Holy Spirit, sees all as the Heavenly Father, and knows how to live purely and selflessly as Jesus.  There is however, another battle.

The defeat of personal pride in temptations that do not glorify our Lord.

“We must live as we think, otherwise we shall end up by thinking as we have lived” (Paul Bourget).

The only personal victory a gal can have is making that initial choice: accept God into your heart, and live in obedience.  There remains hardships, but your life is settled for, it has been won, and now you will win the everlasting love of a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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what to photograph?

First lets ask, what is beauty?

My philosophy class discussed beauty as many different things such as:

Beauty is a gift, a state that comes from within; anything can be beautiful in different perspectives; beauty is a collection of all good things (characteristics, personality, inside to out); beauty is in the eye of the beholder–changed through the perspective of experience; beauty has a positive effect on people and things; it is present at various levels; beauty is natural, unique, diverse, and the ability to express yourself;beauty is in human traits–ability to see good, a generous heart; beauty is an obsession, it is a personal obsession; beauty is something we are all drawn to–purity, untouched; an image that inspires a person to be happy; true beauty is neither superficial nor underlying, but a combination of both, for it is everywhere and can be achieved by everyone.

Before hearing these answers I defined my beauty and will stand by my personal opinion of beauty as perceived confidence of the organic composition of something or someone.  In terms of people, beauty is the ability to present yourself to the public, as the person you truly are, within.

You can define it yourself, but once you know what you are attracted to, can you portray it to film?

Is beauty possible to capture to film? I think not, at least not to its’ purest form.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of youngsters photograph every moment of life to prove to the world how great they truly are. However, I believe the true purpose of photography is indeed: photography as an art.  After a moment is captured, a photographer works to form their image to the meaning of a scene.  This is done through the fading, contrast, and cropping of a photo.  Then, after years, photos are added, revisited, and deleted, reminding the photographer of what once was most meaningful in their life, and further, moving their expression to another level of foresight and ambition.  For me, I capture sunsets.  Sunsets remind beach goers that the night is young, for tomorrow is a new day and we must rest in preparation.  Since witnessing a sunset, I am able to engage in a path of remembrance and success based off of where I was, am, and hope to be.

” A picture is worth a thousand words”

Don’t doubt it, just express yourself and know yourself. Through self-knowledge you will not fail!

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Entering the Cyber world one more time..

If you are reading this, I am sure you know that I am no longer on Facebook.  I once decided Facebook was genuine to the culture of individuality and contact, in comparison to Myspace, however that has changed in the last year.  I do not believe that someone’s identity is within their relationship status or how many individuals “like” their corny comment of the day, but more so the experience they gain out of life. Therefore, I hope that this site is purely a place where you can come to gain an understanding of what imprint the Lord has most recently left on my heart.  Honestly, I am starting this because I have been requested by many friends to reopen my Facebook account.  I refused, and in turn will upload my travel photos on this blog site, so you are still able to feel involved in my next great adventure!

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