Symbols

What if the reflection in this photo is a symbol created by God to tell us that it is possible to reach what seems unreachable. 

Think about it.  The sun is sometimes seen as a symbol for the Son, Jesus Christ, right (sun/Son)? And in this picture, the sun is reflected in the water on the sand; on the ground where it is easily attainable.  Granted, it is a reflection so there's not really anything to "attain", but bear with me.  One of the most unique qualities about Christianity is that God humbled Himself.  He sent His Son (a part of Him) to earth to walk among us and ultimately to die on the cross for our sins.  What if God purposely created reflections like this to remind us that Jesus, the Son, came down to earth?  Jesus is the mediator between us and God.  Through Him we can have a personal relationship with our Father in Heaven.  How can you ignore the intimacy and power of this story?  So, this may have or may not have made sense, but I'm just thinking out loud so sorry, if I was confusing. This picture reminds me that God is not just far away up in Heaven looking down on me, but that He is with me, He walks with me,  and He is among all of us.

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it :) I like thinking symbolically.  It creates an entirely different world.  And as my Dad would say, we are meant to be a symbolized people.  Instead of apathetically viewing the world as its surface image, we should be uncovering God's purpose in all of His creation.  You never know what God might be trying to tell you through His creation even if by a mere reflection.

Hope you all have a restful Sunday!

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

Refreshing Music

Hi everyone :)
It's been a while since I've posted and that's makes me sad.  I do believe last time I posted I was ciked about Harry Potter.  Well, let me just tell you what I thought about it.  IF you have read the book, it will not be HALF as good.  It is very anticlimactic and they took out so many AWESOME scenes in the book. So, I was a bit disappointed, but now that I'm forgetting how much I didn't like it, I want to see it again and hopefully it will be better the second time.  Since I'm talking about HP, check out this song: Harry Potter Theme - Incredible Piano Solo by Jarrod Radnich

Last night I went to see Jon Schmidt in concert with my piano teacher, Michelle, and a friend, Carol (who runs the music store).   Oh, I loved it! It was EXACTLY what I needed.  A very nice refreshing experience.  Jon Schmidt is a pianist (in case you haven't figured that out yet).  Here are some of my favorites of his:
Michael Meets Mozart - Jon Schmidt I wanted him to play this one so bad! I love it!!!! Make sure you watch this one instead of just have it playing in the background.
Love Story Meets Viva la Vida - Jon Schmidt  He played this one last night. Amazing! He had to use a soundtrack for all the other instruments though.
Tribute (Rose-Anne's Song) - Jon Schmidt  This one was written for his sister who passed away when he was 19.  She taught him a lot on the piano and he looked up to her a great deal. Last night, he ended the concert with this song, the piano un-miced.  It was incredible.  It starts out sad, but transitions into happiness as if he has been reunited with her. 

Last, but not least, this is a picture that I edited last night.  I'm really loving black backgrounds...

Enjoy the music above... It's so refreshing, relaxing, inspiring and all that good stuff.  Just close your eyes, take a deep breath and let the melody wash over you.  :)

Pictures Galore!

 It's been a very eventful weekend! Thursday was Naomi's birthday.  Naomi is my forever friend (cheesy term, I know, but it fits :)  So she spent the night and we had a lot of fun staying up till 6am!  Next day, my cousin and her husband came to visit and it was Eowyn, my niece's, birthday!  She turned 5-years-old and we had a big cookout.  Over the weekend I took quite a lot of pictures and have enjoyed editing them and exploring the many ways of Picnik. 

Ooh!  While Naomi was over I had a very defining moment in my music life.  I played her the song that I'm writing, and she told me what the song made her envision.  And guess what?  She said exactly what I had in mind when writing the song! I was beyond excited and very encouraged.  So then, I played it for my parents and they told me they know that tune from another song.  Good feeling gone.  I'm still not sure I believe them (one can only hope they are wrong).  I'm not really sure how I'm going to figure out if I "stole" the melody of another song, but I'm still going to finish it. I've worked too hard on it to just stop.  So anyways, that's my weekend in a nutshell. 

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  I'm hoping our neighbors will do fireworks again this year; they're so pretty. I think my camera has a firework setting, so I plan on putting that to use :) Here are some of the pictures I took this weekend.

I went out to get more shots of the sunflowers after getting some inspiration from another photographer's blog. 

I took this one a long time ago; before I was even into photography.  I'm not sure why I love this picture so much.  After all, it IS a dead sunflower, but I still think it is beautiful.  I think of someone who is lost, dead, and without Christ, humbled to the point of bowing their head to their Creator and receiving the sun (Son) shining down on them.  This picture is what made me realize that I wanted to do photography.  Not necessarily as a business, but for the purpose of getting myself in the habit of acknowledging God's beauty and worshipping Him all the while. 

This is the most amazing bread ever.  And my church bakes it :)  This loaf was made by my sister.  There's a long story that comes along with this bread, but that's something you should ask my pastor ;)

This picture was an amazing accident.  Naomi was hitting the balloon up in the air for me so I could try and get a picture of the balloon but I couldn't really see (the sun was too bright) and I snapped it and this is what I got (Well, after some editing)!

Greeeeen!

Random, I know... I played Yahtzee and was impelled to take a picture of the dice.  I think it came out well!

Waterfall into our pool.

Water drop on a pool float.  Vibrant.

You know that nest I took pictures of last week with the egg still in it and an unknown number of babies?  Well, here they are!!  This is the only one that would really poke its head out.  So cute!

Nice and cozy in 90 degree weather. I don't know how they do it. Especially when the Mama Bird comes and sits on them!

Same one as up there.  He moved around and was looking right at the camera :)

As if I wasn't lucky enough, we found ANOTHER nest! These babies were more lively, but smaller.  If you made the slightest noise, they would skyrocket up with their mouths wide open.

I told you they skyrocketed :)  Loooove this one!

  Wishing everyone a relaxing day off tomorrow and fun celebrating your freedom with your loved ones.  Hopefully next post will include firework pictures :)