The 60-Second Sabbath

Roughing It Through English, Though

English must be tough to learn
as a second language.

Spanish offers consistency as well as beauty;
    vowels are said a certain way,
    consonants another--
one knows what to expect.
Because of this consistency,
I can read Spanish,
    even when I don't understand it.

English is more challenging.

Take this combination of letters, for example:

    ough

Is it pronounced "uff"
as in rough and tough?

Is it pronounced "oo"
as in through and slough?

Is it pronounced "off"
as is cough and trough?

Is it pronounced "oh"
as in though and dough?

Let's just pick one and go with it.

I vote for "oo,"
because "oo" is a fun sound, 
showing up in popular words like
boogar, poop, goo and bugaloo.

So instead of our normal way of saying,
for example,

    "Though it was a rough, tough go
    through the slough--
    coughing--
    we finally bought doughnuts,"

we would say,

    "Thoo it was a roo, too go
    throo the sloo--
    cooing--
    we finally boot doonuts."

Or we could opt for "uff":

    Thuff it was a ruff, tuff go 
    thruff the sluff--
    cuffing--
    we finally bufft duffnuts."

What do you think?
Shall we make English more manageable?

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

God Grows Weary

" I get so weary,"
God said,
"of erasing the lines you draw.

"The only circle worth drawing
is the one that includes us all."

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Summer Storm

At the center of the park
    we shelter
in the open-sided pavilion.

Hailstones batter, clatter, shatter
    on its metal roof...
deafening.

They bounce on the grass,
    hop over each other:
frantic dance.

The storm ends,
    and the western sun
breaks through.

As far as we can see--
    pearls--
glistening to the world's edge.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

New Eyes

"What did you do this afternoon?"
I (the retiree) am asked.

"I took pictures."

"Oh, where did you go?"
is the usual follow-up,
with the expectation that I drove to the mountains,
or visited the Botanic Gardens,
or found some other postcard-worthy spot.

"I walked through the neighborhood,"
I might respond, or,
"Just at home."

"Really?
You find things to photograph at home?
    in your yard?
    in your neighborhood?"

And the answer is
"Yes. Every time.
It's always fascinating,
and there's always more."

And then I ran across this quote
from Marcel Proust:

    The only real voyage of discovery
    consists not in seeking new landscapes,
    but in having new eyes.

And it's true.
Invite me into your home,
leave me with my camera,
and I will spend several happy hours
capturing new wonders.
Through my lens,
you may not recognize your own space,
    your own stuff,
and what you do recognize 
you'll see as never before.

Wonder exists
under our very noses
with people and places and objects
we think we fully know.

New eyes.

 

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Vision

We see
    with our hearts,
and not
    with our eyes.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Meditative Photography

The more deeply
    you feel,
    you engage,
    you experience,
the more your images will express.

The more you are moved,
the more your photos will embody
    the power,
    the wonder,
    the compassion
of your perception.

Be penetrable.
Be vulnerable.
Expose yourself.

This will include negative emotions as well,
    like sorrow,
    loss,
    frustration,
    existential anxiety.
Though we generally associate meditation
    with positive emotions,
like calmness
    acceptance,
meditation (and meditative photography) is more about
the authenticity of the experience,
    welcoming and embracing
    what is real.

Today,
using your camera, your phone or your tablet,
take a photograph
that moves you.

Or use the lens of your eye
    and the memory card of your heart
to capture such an image.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

What I Love about America, #5

I love that our elected leaders are public servants.

We're not that familiar
with the concept of servants,
and most of us
have never had one...
or have we?

I do recall
my mother wondering
if that's all she was.

Perhaps you have a weekly cleaning lady
    or lawn man
(or cleaning man
    or lawn lady).
I worked for a number of years
in food service--
    as waiter, host, bartender--
definitely a servant-like role.
I was also a youth pastor,
    and while I had leadership responsibilities,
    I was there to serve those in congregation,
    not vice versa.
The order-taker at Wendy's,
    the lady cutting meat and cheese at the deli,
    the mailman,
    the woman who does your taxes...
we are served by many, at many times throughout the week.
And think of the many ways
    in which you serve others each day.

As a food server,
an essential part of my job
was respecting those I waited on,
    listening attentively,
    anticipating their needs,
    treating them kindly
        even on those occasions when I was unkindly treated.
A "servant," if you will,
does not insult,
    call people names,
    question people's integrity or value,
    undermine people,
    dismiss people,
    etc.
My faith teaches me, in fact,
that I am to be a servant to others.

Here in America,
every elected official,
from the local level
    all the way up to the president,
are public servants.
They are not despots or dictators
who get to impose their whims
    on the citizenry;
they are servants, chosen to listen,
    to respect,
    to honor,
    to acknowledge that they
        have no greater worth or value
        than anyone within their constituency...
            rich or poor,
            able bodied or disabled,
            gay or straight,
            Christian, Muslim or atheist,
            black, white, Asian, Hispanic.

Their role is a very humbling one,
without room for arrogance,
    belligerence,
    pride,
only room for attentive compassion,
    reflective silence,
    measured responses,
    thoughtful dialogue,
    inclusivity,
    civility.

Civil servitude
is a important American value,
and I've proud of it.

Let's all fight to protect it.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

    
    

Holy Ground (Exodus 3:5)

Wherever you stand
is holy ground.

    Take off your shoes,
that is,
    discard whatever keeps you
    from direct contact
    with the something greater
    that waits for you.

    Take off your shoes
because wherever you stand
    is holy ground,
    divine ground,
    the ground of possibility,
    the ground of so much more.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Your Vision, Your Voice

On January 31,
Tim and I spent two hours
hanging 20 of my images
    (18 canvas prints and 2 glass prints)
at St. Mark's Coffee House here in Denver.
This exhibit runs for the month of February.

As we hung the images,
I kept asking myself:

    What do you think you're doing?
    What makes you think your photos
        have any business hanging here?
    Why would anyone care about your vision,
        your take on the world,
        your "art,"
        your "voice"?

This evening,
    halfway through the month,
I am having an open house.
For two hours,
    I'll greet and talk to people
who might come to see my pictures.

The doubter is back:

    What if no one shows up?
    What if no one likes them?
    What if no one affirms me?
    What if I don't sell anything?
    What if, what if, what if...?

Stop!
Tonight is just about
    standing there,
    looking around,
    acknowledging:

        Well done.
        It's you
            out there--
        hanging on the walls--
                20 glimpses into your soul.

This is a huge accomplishment for anxious me
    no matter what else happens.

----

I started this blog in 2010
    because I felt that I had no voice,
and that God (yes, God)
    was calling me to find a way
to find and express my voice.
Now, 1656 posts later,
I have found (at least some of) that voice
    and that vision.
Every post has included not only text
but an original photo
    (except once,
    when I posted a photo by my friend Beth
    that I thought was mine).
I have hoped,
    with both text and image,
to provide encouragement,
    insight,
    hope,
    affirmation,
    challenge,
    joy
    and healing.

But mostly,
I wanted to find myself,
    to be authentic,
    to honor God's invitation.
In the process,
    I've learned a ton about myself and life,
       about faith and friendship.
Even if no one had ever read a single post
    or viewed a single photo,
something good would still have been accomplished:
I've owned myself in a deeper, more essential way,
    and that has brought healing.

    I have spoken my truth.

----

Which brings me to the real point of this post:

    Speak your own truth.

I've watched it happen with many of you--
    you've written books,
    you've sculpted figurines,
    you've taken stunning pics with your iPhones,
    you've cooked, danced, sung,
    you've posted to Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.

But for those of you, like me,
who struggled a long time--
    and continue to struggle--
to find and express their voice, their vision,
it's not too late.

Don't wait until you're confident you've gotten it right.
Don't wait until it's complete, finished, perfect.
You never get to that point.
If that's what you're waiting for,
    you'll never do it.
You learn to do it
    as you do it,
even though anxious and afraid.

You do it because you need to do it.
You need to express who you are
    so you learn who you are.

You won't get famous,
    get rich,
    gain popularity,
but you will get real,
    become more authentic,
    find greater wholeness.

And you may,
you just may,
enrich the lives of others,
    touch them,
    inspire them.
That's good too.

Life is, after all,
    just one big experiment.

How is your experiment going?

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

    

Boredom

Boredom is a sign
    that something real
        is about to surface.

Don't run from it,
    cover it up,
        or drown it out.

Stay still,
    listen
        and explore your heart.

Break the cycle of distraction;
    experience something
        deeper.

Text and image © 2017 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.