In Focus

 

Always remember: Your focus determines your reality.

George Lucas

 

This past weekend, we drove to two of our summer pastures to check cattle. On Saturday, at the Ninnescah, the cattle were hidden in the pasture's abundant nooks and crannies. But we didn't see any cattle tracks in the road. Unlike last year, our summer hasn't been filled with every-other-day phone calls from people in that area, telling us that our perennial group of escapees had absconded once again. (You may recall those rascals went to the sale barn last fall when we eventually caught them.)

 

Looking east

 

As usual, I had my camera along for the ride. While we didn't get to see the cattle, but we did stop at one of my favorite photo spots, a small wooden bridge over the Ninnescah River.

Looking west

 

Just south of the pasture, I spied a large windmill near the intersection. With the cloudy sky forming an interesting backdrop to the north and west, I asked Randy to stop instead of making the lefthand turn he had planned. He's used to such requests.

 

We stopped in the middle of the intersection. It isn't a well-traveled road. And, even if some other farmer came along to check his own crops or cattle, we would have plenty of warning with the flat landscape stretching in every direction.

I noticed a couple of fence posts left behind - probably from an abandoned loading chute - and decided to frame the windmill in a different way. 

After clicking a few frames of the windmill with both my Nikon and my camera phone, I noticed the a few sunflowers creating a splash of color in the ditch nearby. Looking closer, I noticed how the shape of the sunflower mimicked the shape of the windmill blades and added even more images to my memory card.  

 

When we got home, I downloaded the photos and clicked through the images, now much larger on my computer screen. 

And I discovered a couple of different things. In some of them, the camera had focused on the sunflower, so the flower was in crisp focus and the windmill was just a shape in the background.

In others, the windmill was in sharp focus, blurring the flower itself. Sometimes, the camera chose the close-up view. Other times, it chose the view at the horizon. And, no, the operator did not notice at the time.

My later inspection also revealed I should have paid closer attention to the sunflower I chose for the close-up. Its petals were buffeted by the wind and seemed to have provided a plentiful buffet for insects who had munched the yellow bloom. I wished I'd chosen a more model-worthy specimen. 

At the time, I was more concerned about the shape of the flower and the windmill blades. It was only later that I focused on the details. Unfortunately, I've had that happen before when taking photos. I always think I'll learn from my miscues. And I usually do ... for awhile.

The next day, when we visited our Rattlesnake Pasture, I made sure I was focused on a large, intact bloom.

I did notice that the flowers were giving me their backsides in the shot below, but sunflowers turn toward the sun ... or the direction the light would be on a sunny day, at least. But since the bulls were giving me a pretty shot anyway, I was happy with the splash of color on an overcast day.

But let's face it: Give me a few weeks, and I will inevitably go back to my old ways and forget to pay close attention to the details.

 

Isn't that a metaphor for life itself? We can get stuck viewing life through a particular lens. We see life, people and God through that internal lens called attitude and perspective. 

 

There are many things that can and will blur the focus of our lives.  Distorting our focus are judgment, prejudice, anger, resentment, jealousy, fear, hurt, offense, ingratitude and a lot of other "stuff."  These give us the wrong images of life, people and God.

Unfortunately, when our focus has become blurred by such things, we accept this warped view as reality, when it’s actually the projection of our own experience, pain and problems.  This sets us up for wrong reactions, bad decisions and even some mental and emotional misery.

A favorite Bible verse has this to say about where my focus should be:

 

Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4: 8-9

Back in my voice lesson days, my teacher assigned the song, "Think On These Things." Even though I cleaned out a lot of music when I downsized my office shelves, I kept that particular piece of music because I love the message so much.

It's old enough that I couldn't find the Merle Miller Sacred Songs arrangement (1947) on YouTube, but I did find a high school choir singing a different - yet equally beautiful - song based on the same Bible verses.

Here we are in a pandemic. News stories this week have talked about a "twin-demic" which could happen as winter approaches and brings our usual influx of garden-variety flu on top of Covid-19.

Coupled with rioting and the political rhetoric that bombards us from all sides as the election approaches, it's sometimes hard to focus on anything other than gloom and doom and "noise."

So a quiet trip to a beautiful places to "think on these things" is a good start.

It's not that we get rid of the noise or the things that mar our vision. If you look carefully in the photo above, there's an old drainage pipe that makes the scene just a little less lovely. 

Maybe it's a matter of stepping back just a little bit and taking in the whole picture (and hiding that old pipe with a few more pretty purple flowers by using a different angle). Or maybe it's focusing on the even the smallest things  ...

 ... the intricate petals of individual flowers ...

 ... like tiny blue flowers, hiding in pasture grasses ...

... like cattle (where they are supposed to be), enjoying plentiful grass - even in the late summer ...

... imagining the fisherman who left this fishing pole behind so he/she would be ready for next time ...

 ... wildlife at nearby Quivira National Wildlife Refuge ...

 

... and picture-postcard scenery in my own "neck of the woods ...

Do I need to readjust my focus? Sometimes, it's as simple as taking time to really look ... and to start to "think on these things" instead.

The Message puts Philippians 4 in even clearer terms:

^8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Philippians 4: 8-9, The Message