The ingenuity for taking this this photo is pretty unbelievable.
Three cameras, and a composite of the tallest tree photo ever.
300 feet. 1,500 year old California redwood.
Be amazed. As you scroll down, watch for the people stationed in the tree.
(Full article here)
Tell me what you think!
photo from failblog.com
I thought this picture was a great example of trying to figure out a problem (glare from the sun) on-the-fly. The easy answer is, simply, “shield your eyes.” With the help of a friend, though, this guy could realize he’s already wearing a hat perfectly suited as sun gear.
The better answer: “Turn your hat around.”
We most often learn best in community (through others) and we grow as people this way. Our individual perspective throws us off, and cuts us off from seeing solutions, and places to improve.
Spiritual direction works in the same sort of way. A person seeks spiritual direction, or guidance, not because they can’t see well at all, but because they are wise enough to realize they have blind spots.
Everybody has blind spots, and many are still trying to figure out what those blind spots really are. That’s were community can help too, for the same reason. Whether it’s for productivity; personal growth; becoming better at a particular skill; or in a particular area in your career or your character, outside perspective gives the benefits of revealing our blind spots. That is, if we can be brave enough to hear and learn what they are, and how to overcome some of those obstacles.
The challenge really lies in risking with people, we grow to trust, to be honest with us, and journey with us, for our best interest. And-we mustn’t fail at starting, and nurturing relationships purposefully moving to this level of familiarity.
I encourage you to invest in one or two relationships that will reveal your blind spots. Do it right away.
Have you done this already?
Encourage us, and share a bit of your story here.
Thanks for reading.
Today I woke up at 6:22 a.m., and even though I didn’t want to I felt I must take a walk. It was still dark outside. I dressed into the first things I could find, and couldn’t locate my glasses, so I put on my husband’s prescription sunglasses. I looked like a bug creature.
I felt like I should go back to a nearby hillside were I walked earlier this week. I had gone there to see the sunrise then also. I had gone a bit too early, and by the time came for dawn, dense cloud cover blocked a good view. Still, it had been a nice experience.
This time as I crouched on the dewy hillside overlooking the tree-covered town of Cressona, dotted with lights, I looked up at the stagnant bluish cloud cover again. But interestingly, if I waited about 15 seconds I could sense cloud movement eastward. It made me realize that even when I’m waiting, and it seems nothing is happening, it is. Sometimes I just have to be more perceptive, and patient to notice it. The morning turned beautiful with the new light, and the dark prescription sunglasses intensified the hues, especially the reds, making the scene even more brilliant.
It was an introspective start to me day. Worshipful, pondering, astonishing, and encouraging. Surprises are at every turn.
I changed the header photo on the home page to one from this a.m. Hope you like it.
When I first saw this video below, I cried. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4]
It showed me the power of offering connection and love. The largely untapped, healing power of embrace–which connotes acceptance–seems to be too absent today. The distance between us grows, even though technology has supposedly drawn us together.
Luke 15:20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”
If you would, please response here, and explain your feelings about embrace, or any reactions you had to this post, the video, or the artwork. Thank you.
An idea for plumbing deeper:
Your challenge-
Bring these pictures to mind the next time you pray, and speak about them to God, honestly. If you have fears, joy, sorrow, gratitude, or other feelings, express them, using this theme as a vehicle to interact in your next intimate time with the Lover of your soul.
Once I stepped on a grape, and it gave out a little whine. But never I did I imagine it had suffered.
I was watching a bit of a travel episode on Rick Stevens’ Europe show the other day. It does get a little annoying to see how much fun he’s having sometimes. As I was sweltering in my living room, he was sitting on a chair in a boat on the river, sipping wine, and the lovely breeze was blowing his hair. What a nice gig, I thought! as I wiped the upper lip sweat from face, and tried to get my hair up in a ponytail.
Rick went to a vineyard in the region of Burgundy. Wines in France are not named after the grape from which they are made, but for the particular region from which they come. Each area has a particular blend of soils that produces a unique flavor in the grape. Even a few hundred yards can create a whole different tasting grape.
When Rick remarked on the soil there, and he said, “This doesn’t look like good soil for growing.” I agreed. The soil was light brown, (much like the picture below) and looked nothing like the futile, jet black soil in the midwest bread-basket of the USA, like Iowa, where millions of acres produce abundant crops.
“No,” the vineyard expert said.
She said that the soil has to be bad. The grape has to work very hard to get the good from the soil to become its best, to become sweet, and to become just right for the most amazing and flavorful wine. She said, “The grapes have to suffer!”
It seems to be one of the most incredibly common notions that struggle and suffering is bad, or negative.I know I don’t like it much. Yet, when has anything truly good come to fruition without struggle? Putting someone through suffering is a wholly different matter, and I stress that we mustn’t ever assume the role of victimizer, to produce good in someone or not. Here, I speak instead about our personal perspective on our own suffering and struggle.
It’s easy to think, “Oh no ,something is totally wrong!” when we suffer, or that good isn’t being created in or around us, somehow, in the midst of it all. Some suffering is unavoidable, like sickness, or accidents. In those times, maybe we can remember the suffering grape who can never be a fine vintage without being planted in poor, harsh,ill-suited soil. It works hard to find the nutrients it needs, but alas, it does find the goodness to be healthy, and sweet. All this time I thought the only grapes that suffered were just the raisins!
Are you suffering? Take encouragement in this story. Leave a comment if you’d like.
The picture below is under a Creative Commons license from photographer “focalplane” at Flickr (image). Note the photograph’s interesting information from the artist below.
Photographer’s notes:
