The Influence of Light

Today I have been meditating on light.  I am realizing how light influences my thinking.  Since I was a small child in Florida, I loved watching the beacon of the sun turn the sea into a glittering mass.  The light created fresh, new beauty. By watching the light each day, I quickly learned that it was the angle of the light that mattered.

Many years later, I am realizing the same truth.  The amount of light outside directly influences my mood, my thinking, and  even my creative energy.  More importantly, I understand how the absence of divine light affects me.  Without a daily dose of scriptural light and understanding, my day becomes askew, obscure, and out of perspective. My lens are blurred. I see things in a shadow, instead of being focused.

I can best explain this when I am painting.  I must have clear daylight in order to create images on the canvas that are in perspective.  The angle of the light in the painting creates understanding to the viewer.  I need correct lighting to paint accurately and see clearly. Without light , a painting would be a dark shapeless mass.

When writing, my slant, my voice, my choice of characters and scenes are created by me, the writer.  My excitement is generated through the dialogue of the character.  My fears are demonstrated in my characters inability to take certain risks. My internal light and understanding propels the story and helps  develop a lasting impression on my reader.

I realize it is the angle of light that changes my focus and perspective each day.  I no longer view life and its problems with shortsighted limitations when I read the Bible.  Instead, the amount of light I take in from meditation and reading God’s word influences my eternal perspective and sheds light in my creative realm.  The amount of light within and without directly relates to my ability to create and live life abundantly.

Perhaps this is why I am eager for each new day that breaks the darkness of the night.  New light brings fresh perspective.  I pray that others might see the grace and light of my communion with God in my writing, painting, and daily living.

Perspectives all around us.

Which perspective tells you more?  Which is more pleasing to the eye, the soul, the mind?

Perspectives

            Yesterday we moved from our one bedroom vacation rental to our two-bedroom apartment that is upstairs and across the street from the Gulf.  On our moving day, I had a perspective drawing workshop all day.  A dear and talented octogerian artist taught the class.  His creativity and intelligence surpasses anyone I know.  Just being around him generates creative energy into me. I had a class last year with Wayman Brown and decided to take two from him this year.

            Perspective has always been a problem of mine.  Those of you who know me are laughing and agreeing.  Putting my rose colored glasses aside, I am referring to drawing buildings and roofs in perspective.  That can be quite the challenge.  However, if perspective is off, the entire drawing or painting is askew. 

            As I sat doing drawing exercises and listening to Wayman, a whole new world appeared.  He had changed my paradigm, made a dynamic shift in my thinking.  At sixty-eight, that is amazing !  I love learning and growing, but most importantly, I thrive on epiphanies and change. 

            Many friends enjoy the comfort and security of the familiar, sameness, repetitive tasks and knowing what is there day will be.  I, on the other hand, wake early each morning and go to my computer and write.  I don’t know what I will write.  I just start typing and  a chapter on my book emerges or a blog develops, or a poem is birthed.  A few pages later, I have a new truth, lesson, or happening on my screen.  Exciting?  Oh , yes, like today, I am writing about impressions. 

            Perspective from our upstairs apartment is so different than last month’s down stair apartment.  I see the ocean from the seagull and pelicans’ view.  I see so much more from here.  I understand the total picture of the waves, the tides, the reflection of the moon and sun on the waters.  It doesn’t even seem like the same ocean that I sit and watch under a palm tree.  That ocean was limited to my view of one set of waves, one flock of pelicans, and one group of shells sliding to and fro on the sands. 

            I cannot see the shells from my pelican view.  I see vastness, overwhelming beauty, but not so many tiny details.  I see shapes, colors, and reflections.  Both views are quite pleasing.  It is my insight, either eye level or pelican level, which ever I choose.

            I think that is life.  We choose our attitude and judgement.  We choose not to see the total picture at times because it is too overwhelming.  Other times, we get so bogged down in details that we miss the party.  It is as if we have a worm’s view, and keep digging deeper in that one realm to find more and miss an obvious happening.

            God gives us another point of view.  From the scriptures, we glean His perspective.  His omnipresent understanding of all truth gives me  a paradigm shift of hope , peace and power.  I yearn to see from His eyes, not mine.  Let me go and choose my new frame of reference today.  I choose to see what I want to see and ask that God ushers me into His vision throughout the day. What do you choose today? A worm’s examination , a pelican's view, or God’s perspective?

            I would enjoy hearing about an attitude change that you have experienced by viewing something in a different way. Help me understand your epiphany.   I think it would help all of us grow.  So, please share.