This is a Vanity Post

I haven’t blogged for some time here (more than a month!), so perhaps it’s not surprising that I don’t have much to say.

So what is this post about, then?

There’s a little dropdown box in the right hand margin of this blog site which allows you to quickly find posts from previous months. Currently, it shows at least one entry from every month since August 2011 when I first began blogging.

Well, February is almost over, and I realized that if I didn’t post something, then there would forever be a gap in this list, with no entries for Feb 2014.

So, I’m writing this post really out of vanity, or OCD, or something.

It’s been a neat journey to see what role blogging fulfills. In some seasons of life, the need for creative outlet or the processing of ideas takes places well here. In others, like more recently for me, I’ve been finding creative release via photography (expressed on Flickr and FB) and opportunities for contemplating life by engaging in conversation in community and regular journaling.

Thus, at the moment, my blog has sat idle. And I think that’s okay. And if some future season warrants utilizing it again, it’ll be here.

If nothing else, I may well be back in less than 30 days, just to keep my monthly archive up-to-date…unless, of course, I finally grow out of my silly little vanities.  🙂

~~~

I have been marginally more active on my other blog: 2yearsofpsalms.wordpress.com

 

Not Blogging

For me, words can’t reveal like the camera can.

It seems a bit off to write a blog post about not blogging.

Nevertheless, since this is what I’m thinking about, here we are.

I like writing. I like the process of crystallizing my thoughts to the degree of being able to express them to others via printed word, in hopes that they will get a clear idea of what’s transpiring in my head.

I like the art of crafting communication, considering word choice, sentence rhythm, symmetry and variety as facets of communicating with lively interest.

I mostly think in words, in lists, in essays…rather than in pictures or physical movement.

And yet, with all of this internal appeal, in this season I cannot say that I feel the same way about writing as I do about photography.

I have mentioned previously that I am on a journey of exploring the creative outlet of making images digitally. More life-giving than a hobby, more essential than “art for art’s sake,” photography is touching on something deeply within.

Shockingly, something more intrinsic to me than writing.

Writing is certainly a creative art.

But composing a literary piece is not touching those same spots within me as photography is, those places where the image of God is seeded, waiting to come to fruit.

I have found myself with a need to create–to go out and make new images, or at the very least to process images previously received and bring them to the height of my heart’s desire. Flickr and Facebook are becoming the avenues for sharing my heart, more so than articles and blogs.

I’m still writing (obviously)–even working on a book project–and I don’t expect that to come to a complete halt. But how long will this season of photographic primacy last? How long will the camera call to me more loudly than the pen or keyboard?

Who’s to say? But for now, I long to enjoy and must be faithful to the drive within: to reveal the image of my Creator God through my humble, limited opportunities for producing what my own heart conceives, what my own eye fancies. Perhaps the world may too enjoy something it has never before received.

Perhaps it will just be for me…and Him.

~~~

Similar posts:

Imagification

Photography: A Contemplation

Contemplative Photography #1

Contemplative Photography #2

Contemplative Photography #3

Contemplative Photography #4

 

Digest: July-Sept 2013

Here’s some of the posts that you may have missed from the third quarter of 2013. These are among my favorites from this time period. Which ones have you enjoyed? Feel free to comment below, and use the buttons at the bottom of each post to pass them along to others who might enjoy them.

Contemplative Photography #1 (June 12) > the beginning of a new journey

Speak Peace (July 24) > a special ministry to others

The Sin of the Tree of Knowledge (Aug 18) > where did we actually go wrong?

Modern Alchemy (Aug 27) > our transactional lives

I Just Can’t Get Out (Sept 4) > me and this wasp are like this

Photography: A Contemplation (Sept 6) > more than a hobby

A Sigh of Goodness (Sept 15) > a poetic reflection on a satisfying sip

A Necessary Gift (Sept 21) > some things you just have to have

If you have just recently found this site, you may want to look back at some other favorite posts from recent years: [2011] Digest: Aug-Sept & Digest: Oct-Dec, [2012] Digest: Jan-Mar & Digest: Apr-Jun & Digest: July-Sept & Digest: Oct-Dec, [2013] Digest: Jan-Mar & Digest: Apr-June.

New items have also been posted on my Writings page as well, so pop over there for poetry, essays, short stories…and now also Bible studies and sermons!

Another extensive list of my most significant, personally revealing, and reflective posts can be found on my Silhouette page, an outline of how I have shared myself on this blog.

In addition, I have a second blog which has been running for over a year now: 2 Years of Psalms. It details my progress thus far on a two-year journey of encountering God.