Over ten years ago now, I started hearing voices I hadn’t really paid attention to before.
The voices belonged to birds. Yes, the songs and calls of our feathered friends. Previously I heard them as the background and soundtrack to the great outdoors of my life, but then they became something more.
It dawned on me that those voices—those songs—belonged to certain species of birds, and if I paid attention, I could learn to identify their calls. And further, if I became alert to their voices and could identify their calls, I had a better chance of capturing photos—especially of the ones I’m most interested in, like cardinals. (It also dawned on me that my interest in birds had sprung from my interest in taking good photos. Kind of neat, huh?)
So I began to listen more. When I heard a bird call, many times I stopped momentarily and paid attention. I looked for the bird, listened, and then tried to remember its sound for future reference. And just recently I downloaded the Merlin Bird ID App to my phone so now I have this amazing tool to help me identify bird calls.
After learning to pay attention all those years ago, I discovered birds even have different calls for different purposes. For example, cardinals sing, but they also cheep-cheep-cheep while feeding and looking for food. I never would have realized that, though, if I hadn’t become alert to them, if I hadn’t started paying attention.
I wonder how many times God tries to communicate with us and we miss it. I wonder if his voice gets lost in the soundtrack of our lives, especially if we relegate him to the background and neglect to listen for him.
What blessings might we capture, what pearls of wisdom might we learn if we decide to be alert to God’s voice? To listen for him and then stop and pay attention when we hear him call.
More voices than ever compete for our attention today, don’t they? Let’s not miss the most important one. Let’s tune our ears to hear the song of our Savior and our God.
“Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.” Isaiah 28:23 NIV
*What voices are you paying attention to?
*The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, comes out in early November. One lucky subscriber will receive a $15 gift card to Starbucks and a signed copy of my book to use personally, give as a gift, or donate to a library. Sign-up is free! *Temporary problem with Life Notes sign-up. To sign up, just contact me.
*For info about my book Mother of the Bride check out my Books/My Work page.
Dross Before Gold: Photography, Arts, and Other Skills
Compliments sure feel good, don’t they? I never dreamed they were in my future as I snapped photos right and left during our vacation to the Tetons and Yellowstone, several years ago, but that’s exactly what happened after I started sharing my photos.
Much to my delight, several people commented about what great pictures I took while on our trip. What fun to hear people say things like “Beautiful shot” or “What wonderful photos” after they’d looked at my albums on Facebook or the ones I posted here on the blog.
What they didn’t realize is that I took lots of bad shots in order to achieve the glory shots. They didn’t see the dross that preceded the gold.
Believe it or not, I downloaded over 750 photos to my computer after we returned home. Plus, I’d already deleted the without-a-doubt duds from my camera during the trip. After getting a chance to examine my haul more closely at home, I sent several more shots to my computer’s recycle bin. Even with that, I shared only a portion publicly. Bye- bye, dross. Hello, gold.
As I learn more about whatever camera I’m using and put in more practice time, I won’t have quite as much dross to sift through during future photo-athons. But you know what? I don’t mind the dross so much if I end up with some gold to enjoy.
Photography’s not much different from writing—or any other skill or art for that matter—in the dross and gold department. I write lots of so-so sentences before I finally get some good stuff. I delete and revise certain words or phrases as I type and get rid of others after closer examination. Then I select just the right ones to share with the world. Bye-bye, dross. Hello, gold.
Looks like the old saying “practice makes perfect” proves true once again. It’s up to us to decide if we’re willing to put in the practice to perfect the skill, to deal in some dross in order to gain the gold.
Is it worth it? My spirit says “yes!” Does yours say the same? Okay then—what are we waiting for? Let’s go for the gold!
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.“ Colossians 3:23 GNT
In what skills are you working to achieve gold?
*The next issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, comes out in early May. One lucky subscriber (new or current) will receive a $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble and a signed copy of my book to use personally, give as a gift, or donate to a library. *Temporary problem with Life Notes sign-up. To sign up, just contact me.
*For info about my book Mother of the Bride and also my Wedding Inspiration cards, check out my Books/My Work page.
*Flickr photo by photosteve101, Creative Commons License