Life's Prequel – Page 5 – A Photographer's Glance

Colour Blindness and Darkness

There is little that’s heard
and so much to say.
The radio reports a male’s voice about his mother
being beaten by his father, and verbally abused continually, only when he was drunk.
Horrendous … and we meet this with numerous efforts … still hardly enough.
But there is little to nothing said or believed about how
women too often manipulate, control, deride, blame and verbally abuse
the men closest to them in their lives.
And when the woman owns the house, is the sole guardian of the children, and is the boss at work …
the opportunities to manipulate, control, deride, blame and verbally abuse multiply out of control.

And the justice system, well focused at protecting women from violent men,
is so blind to the women that bring false complaints about their men being violent, when this is just yet another lie, a manipulation, a power trip, a derision, a blaming, and real life abuse of their men.
The justice system takes these men, and judges them, convicts them, punishes them (tossing them out of their home, cutting them off from the abusive women and their own children that rely on them) and intimidates them (actively disrupting the process of justice that would serve them well and bring them a voice, a fair hearing) … convicted and condemned without a trial.

The light of truth is obliterated by the deadwood of lies, the colour of the life cycle which could be a delight is hidden beyond the darkness of death.

The signs are everywhere, of God’s gifts of beauty, streaming to us in real life through the huge bandwidth of our eyes and brains.

Even the leaves are weeping at the injustices, even the leaves are weeping at the misplaced condemnations, even the leaves are dancing with colour promising, though the darkness will set in, new life will emerge, new life will emerge!

Among the maze of life turning towards the winter cold, the small birds still sing and seek and dance with joy.

Where are you?

Do you seek to give every abused victim a voice?

Can you tell the difference between a real complaint of male violence against women, and the complaint that is further abuse?

How can you see behind the curtain?

How can you see past the deadness of manipulative abuse, to see the light of hope and love?

Where is your joy today?

Finding oneself in Work?

Love is foremost,
but meaningful labour is second most significant,
as the leaves turn in a night
and the clouds hang ready to empty their weight again
and the sun peaks out to shine a moment
as the stragglers for the oil field turn the corner
toward meaningful labour for their Monday.

But all our efforts in comparison to God’s display of beauty for us are

so small.

Love Trumps Everything, as the determiner of life, of our perspective on everything

Love is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in life, it is the key.
Our success in love is rarely determined by who we are with,
it is always determined by the person we are with the other.
(Unless our other is a narcissist and/or abusive –
or if our other is physically beating us up –
not some concocted story of violence, but our getting actually hit!),

And there is always a way to love the person we are with,
it’s called DOING forgiveness.
(even the narcissist, abuser, or beater,
though they just hurt us back!
Don’t I know! though I’m committed to forgiving for a year,
so is it worth it in the end?)

It’s too easy to feel trapped in but cut off from love.

It’s easier to run wild

look in the sky for answers

or lose oneself in busyness and work

But when beauty sets into one’s eyes

Then one sees clearly

How delightful God created us to be with each other.
How spectacular God created us to be, giving to each other.
A patch here, a foolishness there, a clowning for healing there.
Here’s a chocolate for you, a touch of humour for you,
a word of kindness for you, a helping hand for you and you,
forgiveness for your betrayal and lies for you,
a gentle touch of encouragement for you,
a word of hope for you,
an honest word of your company’s debauchery for you
and your company’s dishonesty for you,
a call to move beyond triangulation for you,
an invitation for you,
a word of profound thanks and gratitude for all you who respond with honest purity, kindness, and grace.

And we end up being specular light for each other,
the light that is all bent out of shape because it’s God’s light,
sent through each of us, to light up the world for others,
but as it passes through us it cannot be but scrambled and bent and diffused,
which is exactly why it turns everything it lights up, into precious golden gems.
Which is exactly what chosen, planned, worked at with discipline, and achieved and experienced love does for us all day long,
it turns everything into golden precious gems.

But how can spectural light be stolen?
Who would step on God’s parade of forgiveness and new life,
of transforming death into life,
of specular light’s delight,
and rip it from mid air and place the light in detention?
Afraid the light could hurt us?
Afraid the light would expose the darkness. Yes!
But there is no reason for fear,
for though forgiveness requires confession, confession
after unconditional forgiveness is already promised and exercised without reserve –
confession prepares one for new life!
and for all the delights of specular light!

By Grace trust can grow.
And the darkness will be overcome, replaced and dissolved with forgiveness, the basis of love.