Perseverance
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4, NIV)
My journey in photography today took interesting turns to bring me to the place of contemplating the word perseverance. Early this morning before the sun rays had even crept over the Eastern horizon in the slightest, I woke with the sole purpose of finding a sunrise image that would hopefully be something I could share with you. Being Summer, the sun would be rising at 5:43 so this meant getting up at 5:00 to head to the place I had in mind. It was picked out based on the framing of Mt. Rainier through a particular railroad bridge where the morning sun would be a side light on the mountain. I could picture the scene… the old bridge framing the majestic peak with a fiery glow of sun hitting the glaciers of the mountain. So dramatic and amazing (at least in my own mind!).
Arriving at the location, I did some walking around to find exactly the right composition that would produce the image in my mind. I set up the tripod… chose the settings I thought would be best, and waited. And waited… and waited… and waited… “I am sure that slight haze around the mountain will burn off once the risen sun gains some strength.” Waiting some more… “Just need the atmosphere around the mountain to warm slightly to clear the fog.” 30 minutes… 45 minutes… one hour…. still nothing. Tired of standing I sat on a nearby rock in the stillness of the morning and instead of a sunrise image as I had pictured I simply had a very nice sunrise prayer time in the quiet of the morning.
I never did get the image I thought I needed but I was given something much more valuable and that was quiet time to pray and also a nice lesson in perseverance and patience. Sometimes landscape photography is funny that way. It may not give you exactly what you were planning but if you are patient and listening it may give you far greater gifts. The sunrise was beautiful, the sea birds were busy chattering in the sky, and I got time with the Lord to pray alone.
Packing up and heading home I thought that this was all the day held for me in lessons of life and photography. The theme of perseverance for the day was not actually finished. Heading out later in the morning for some Saturday time with two incredible ladies in my life, my wife and daughter, we accidentally came across a huge art festival happening in the parking garage of a local mall. Food trucks, paintings, sculptures, and of course amazing landscape photo galleries! Of course it was the photo galleries that I was enthralled with and going from one to another seeing such jaw dropping images that I did not fully realize could be produced by a camera gave me somewhat of conflicted feelings. I came away with an overwhelming feeling that my amateur photography is so many light years from what I had just taken in that I should just hang it up because I will never be able to reach those levels in my own work.
The second feeling that was in contrast to the first was the thought that these artists had proved what is possible. The only things standing in the way are time and perseverance. In any worthy pursuit the only way to guarantee failure is to stop trying, stop learning, and stop persevering in the journey. As James taught in the opening verses of his letter, we need to consider our trials to be pure joy. It is the testing that produces the perseverance (translated as patience in King James) and when this has finished its work we will have a maturity that does not fall short.
In your life don’t look at the obstacles and the tests that come your way as negatives. These are given to you by the Lord as a gift to bring about growth into maturity. These trials are pure joy!! Without these to strengthen our faith we would remain weak and vulnerable to spiritual attack by the enemy. With these trials we gain confidence in our faith knowing not just in theory but in actual life application that Jesus Christ is in full control of our future and “He will work for the good of those who love him and have been called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
I hope that this has been an encouragement to you today in your own journey and that no matter what you are facing that you keep pressing forward in faith. God bless you wherever you are and please know that my prayers this morning and every day include you specifically as I pray for whoever is behind each town and country that I see logging in each day knowing that this represents a real person with real life challenges in their path of life. Thank you for reading each day. Please pass this site along to anyone else you know that needs encouragement.
