Picture Imperfect: What A Moth Taught Me.

It's been awhile. How have you been?

If your response is the customary "Just Awesome!" or "Never been better!!" I hope you mean it. And if you do then I'm really thrilled for you. :)

If yours' is more along the lines of "Life is messed up.", "They're all trying to kill me!", "I can't do this anymore." or the like...

I'm not going to say it's not that bad (because it very possibly might be from where you're standing), or order you to cheer up or anything like that. I will say a prayer for you though; hoping you get all the help you need - whatever form help chooses to take in your context - and that you remember to look away from all the endless issues long enough to realize all the other good things in existence didn't suddenly disappear just because the bad stuff suddenly drew too near.

So...hang in there okay? Please.

Right. Someone's probably wondering 'What's up with the Moth lessons?'...or not. Anyway, this post is really inspired by something God brought to my heart while i was going through some photographs i took early Saturday morning last week.

On my way to handball training (yes, I want you to know I play ^_^), i saw this lovely moth just off the walkway. Maybe it's just me, but i really loved the contrast it's bright orange wings (splashed with some yellow and a few white spots) made against the coal-tarred ground. So yeah, taking a picture came to mind almost instantly. There was however, a small issue; one that became more real to me as i tried futilely to get a clear shot on my - ahem - 4th generation iPod touch. (Judge not. It has given me some pretty good photos in the past).

The dear moth was flapping its wings. Really fast. -_-

As you can guess, this was making my mission near impossible because before my old faithful iPod was able to register and process my gentle tap on the camera button, the wings would have speedily flapped up and down about thrice - leaving me with several blurry would-be nice takes. #sigh What's a girl to do right?

Long story short, I did this really un-ladylike squat to get close enough - hoping it wouldn't just up and fly away - and took what i could, begging it the whole time to pause it's flapping for just a moment. Of course, it didn't acknowledge my pleas (arrogant thing) and later, while going through my pictures and thanking God for the few un-blurry moth shots i got, He brought a few things to mind; the summary of which is: If we decide to hope for the beauty we desire to own in life, to WAIT patiently for us to come get it (or make itself easy to be caught), then we're going to end up missing out on all the beauty there is. I'll explain.

So apparently, from my little account, the uncooperative moth model was a representation of beauty I wanted to own. Something i appreciated and wanted to be able to access whenever I felt like it (from my photo library). But then, it would have been unwise for me to rush back to my hall, run up the stairs to my room, begin a search for my more advanced digital camera, and then come back out to conveniently take the picture. Why? Uhhh because》》》what are the odds that someone wouldn't have carelessly crushed the moth while walking by? Or that the moth's flapping wasn't its way of gearing up for flight? Or that in my hurry i wouldn't have dropped my camera on my way down and then caused a whole different issue for myself?

See many times we desire things (I'm talking about good, positive, edifying, profitable things now), but then our responses to these desires are sometimes the issue. How do we go about pursuing what we seek? Are we all lackadaisical or enthusiastic? Do we procrastinate? Whether it's in one's mental life, emotional life, physical life, spiritual life -- the point is, how do we respond to an identified and acknowledged need/want?

Life is no butler. It's not about to wait on you. Don't get it twisted, this is not me drumming some 'Live in the moment and forget everything else' principle. However, we sometimes need to remember/be reminded that things are hardly ever going to turn out just the way we want it. But then, the way we want may not even be a great way anyway. Think about it. If the moth was still&calm, proceeding events = uneventful. I take my shot and it's like every other moth I've taken (except they're usually on the wall and this was on the floor). I don't get any inspiration for this post. I don't get the satisfaction of finding a solution to a challenge. I don't get to improve my photography skills. In fact, ALL i'd get would be the moth' photograph - nothing more. But with theway thingswent downI got that and a little extra. Now if in spite of the flapping, I decided to have no chill and walked away irritated, I'd have ended up with nothing and the moment/experience/opportunity  would pass. And that's it.

There are so many instances and examples i could give where we miss out on capturing the beautiful blessings God surrounds us with each day, but then I'm sure you can think up a few yourself. All I'm driving at is, we can't keep waiting for things to be convenient or ideal before we take the action(s) we know are necessary. I mean seriously, let's stop it. It's a waste of time and breath. Don't be too arrogant, nor too lazy, nor too confident, nor too cowardly, nor too intelligent, nor too simple, nor too worldly, nor too religious, to pursue that which is of true worth. Avoid letting minor distractions or temptations or glitches, completely take your attention off what is of most priority. Time waits for no man (woman, boy, or girl), so quit stalling already.

For instance, you're reading this and you've been doing this back and forth dance with thoughts of accepting Jesus into your life. Ma'am, Sir - what's up with that? If you realise you need Him. Admit it. Accept Him, and get on with your mission on this here earth. Life isn't going to pause rapidly beating a whole lot of things up and down to give you time to clear your head and make the best decision of your life. Hassles and distractions and natural disasters and economic crises and social conflicts and academic challenges and financial wants and all the problems you can think up, aren't leaving just yet. They won't stop! Bad things won't stop happening either I can bet - they won't even slow down - but that doesn't mean you have to miss all the good things both within and around the bad. Take a risk and step out in faith. The beauty is right there - get your hands out of your pockets! Take back that dying relationship that you know has no business being in the grave. Take back the humble and considerate person you used to be before you let things change. Take back your joy, take back your purity -- don't worry, this isn't you being stingy. Take back the controls over your emotions, your anger, your tongue, your spending, your living...take back what you let get stolen, and guard the beauty you've been blessed with jealously.

If life won't slow down, you slow down. Don't walk past your inspiration. Don't carelessly crush the very things that should keep you going strong. Don't beg the interruptions to give you a break. See things through God's eyes...view through the lens of faith. Then, even at life's most restless moments...

Future perfect will always always be your take.

Amen.

xxx, Kwiksie.