Color My World

Taken with my phone

The eastern sky beckoned me outside Monday morning. I grabbed my phone and my camera and snapped a few shots of our silo before I took a short drive to my sunrise tree. 

With my phone

On several occasions, I've noticed a difference in the images I get with my phone's camera vs. my regular camera. Monday's shots were even more markedly different than usual. My camera recorded the images as golden, with very few paintbrush strokes of blue. My phone had both blue and gold tones.

With my camera

I got back to the house, and I had my daily KFRM report to do. Then, I had to go pick up the guys at Miller Seed Farm, where they took seed wheat to be cleaned before we plant our 2022 wheat crop this fall.

With my phone

 

So by the time I got the photos downloaded, I'd kind of forgotten how markedly different the images were. I played around with editing the photos, but I wasn't satisfied with getting the images to look like "real life." And by that time, what WAS real life? After several hours had elapsed, I was having trouble discerning which was the closest to the truth. So I gave up trying to manipulate the images. I just downloaded them "as is."

And it made me think about life as we know it today.

 

With my camera

 

Some Facebook friends color their vision of life through a conservative lens.

Others see the same situation with a much more liberal viewpoint.

And my view often falls somewhere in the middle.

 

Who is right?

Who is wrong?

Is there a middle ground?

 

I sure hope there is. And, with God's help, I hope we can find it. 

 

For the record, the more golden sunrise was probably closer to reality. Here's a photo my friend, Janet Hardin, posted Monday morning to her Facebook page.

 

Photo by Janet Hardin

 

But, then again, another of my Facebook friends, Jamie Kreutzer, posted this Monday sunrise shot from downtown Stafford.

 

Photo by Jamie Kreutzer

 

So ... there you go. The picture depends upon which view finder you're looking through.

I saved a devotional way back in January, thinking I'd use it sometime with nature photos. It was from one of the daily devotionals that arrives in my email in box - this one, from New Every Morning. I stash these snippets of wisdom in my blog "draft" folder. 

 

Here's the devotional and question from New Every Morning:

Today’s Reflection

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of this day.
We know that each day is a gift coming anew from you.
For the beauty of creation, we give you thanks.
For the joy of loving and being loved,
we give you thanks.
For the steadfastness of good friends,
we give you thanks.
For meaningful work to do and supportive colleagues,
we give you thanks.
When challenges and hardships overwhelm us,
remind us that your grace is all around us, everywhere,
to be seen if we just remember to look for it.
Let our prayer at the end of this day and each day
be gratitude for what you have given to us.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

—Mary Lou Redding, Prayers for Life’s Ordinary and Extraordinary Moments

  (Upper Room Books, 2012)

Today’s Question

How can you practice noticing goodness today?

Today’s Scripture

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
—Psalm 9:1 (NRSV)