Saturday, November 2, 2013

Halloween

I think my favorite thing about Halloween is seeing all my friends' children dressed up in their cute costumes. Instagram almost exploded with cuteness between 6 pm and 9 pm on the 31st. The subway in NYC did not almost explode with cuteness however - I'm still a little traumatized from some of the costumes I saw! The Empire State Building was lit up in orange for the evening and I tried Korean food for the first time with a friend. This weekend is the New York City marathon. I am very excited to be able to photograph and write a story on the World Vision team running the race this Sunday. I'll post the article once I have it written.
I also submitted an article to the website youarenotaphotographer.com. If you've never visited this page before, you should! It's a collection of work from people who have advertised professional photography services and are terrible. I've been laughing over this site with friends for about a year and finally decided to submit something. It's just a little blurb about my own evolving journey with photography and they posted a few of my pictures! You can click here for the article.

And a reflection. I have been thinking about the inevitability of change the past few days. I have moved around most of my life, and have spent time in different countries at various times. I have built relationships, put down roots and poured energy into friends and people; at times I have left, in other circumstances they have left. Sometimes, through no fault of our own, friendships change and people outgrow one another. We drift apart, we change zip codes, we marry, have children, go overseas, travel and gain new experiences that isolate us from others in some respects. And this can be a beautiful thing if we allow it to be. I have friends in Texas, Thailand, Chicago, Alabama, Idaho, Raleigh, Georgia, Africa, California, Iowa, Portland, Virginia, New Orleans, Australia, and many, many other places. They're like these beautiful roots that are spread out across the globe; people who at some point in time have poured into my life and people I have loved deeply. and ones I still have the privilege of talking to and visiting and sharing my life with. It looks different, but it's no less beautiful. Some view these changes as excuses to withdraw their love or refuse to invest in people because of the risk involved. That is an option, I suppose. It certainly would spare us the pain of loss and separation. Yet I firmly believe there's a richness that will be missed in living this way. I miss Raleigh and my dear friends there, but I realized the other day that even if I stayed in Raleigh and tried to hold tightly to what isn't mine, I would have lost it anyway. Because things change. And that's a good thing. I look forward to eternity when those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ are gathered together forever. With no pain, no separation, only joy and community together. This is the hope that we Christians live for and long to see. If you read my blog and you're not someone who has put their faith in Jesus, then I really want to share with you the beauty of being a part of God's family. Life gets hard. Being a Believer doesn't exempt you from suffering and hardship. What it DOES do is give you security  in Him and freedom to live your life free from fear of death, free from losing relationships with other Christians. You are welcomed into this community - you can find forgiveness, friendship, joy and eternal security. A family that may be spread across the world, but that one day will be together with Jesus. I'd love to talk to you more about this if you ever want to:)

 ESB on Halloween
 Fall has come to the city. Central Park is gorgeous right now!
 As promised, some pictures from Warby Parker!

 This was an escalator going down in a subway tunnel. It was actually a little creepy, and plastered with ads for Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

1 comment:

  1. Great insight on change - and you are absolutely right. It really speaks to me in our state of flux right now. You have friends in Florida too ;-)

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