I love stark winter beauty, whether it reveals itself in a leafless tree set against a vivid sunrise sky, a quartz boulder accenting a blackened forest burn, or birds roosting in a dead snag. All of these instances - and many more - serve to remind us that there is virtue, truth and beauty simply in the act of stripping the superfluous clutter from our lives. But we might say more accurately that it is less a matter of WHAT we cut away, and more the fact THAT we are doing it that is most important.
When an artist is crafting a marble sculpture, she cuts away a
multitude of rock pieces in order to reveal the beauty of the realized
idea she has in mind. But it is important to remember that all of the
marble she removes is incredibly beautiful in and of itself. Yet in
order to reveal the glory of the sculpture hidden within the stone, she
has to cut away even these exquisitely beautiful pieces of rock. It is
similar with our own spiritual journeys, where all of the things we feel
called to strip away are actually very good in themselves.
When I take a photograph, it is just as important what I cut out as what I allow to remain in the frame. Applied to our lives, it is this kind of cutting-away that is innately beautiful as an act in itself. May all of us find the grace and discernment to aid us in cutting away even the perfectly good activities, events and interactions that so often hinder us from focusing on the grand sculpture of our lives that we are so painstakingly co-crafting with the Creator :)
Photos: (Top) sunrise viewed from my next door neighbor's front yard, Larimer County, CO, January 16, 2015; (Middle) Quartz boulder and blackened trees in the Hewlett Burn, Poudre Canyon, CO, January 17, 2015; (Bottom) Birds roosting in a dead snag, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 13, 2015
When I take a photograph, it is just as important what I cut out as what I allow to remain in the frame. Applied to our lives, it is this kind of cutting-away that is innately beautiful as an act in itself. May all of us find the grace and discernment to aid us in cutting away even the perfectly good activities, events and interactions that so often hinder us from focusing on the grand sculpture of our lives that we are so painstakingly co-crafting with the Creator :)
Photos: (Top) sunrise viewed from my next door neighbor's front yard, Larimer County, CO, January 16, 2015; (Middle) Quartz boulder and blackened trees in the Hewlett Burn, Poudre Canyon, CO, January 17, 2015; (Bottom) Birds roosting in a dead snag, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, January 13, 2015
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