Finding God in Unusual Places; "Everyday Sacredness"

My wife is fixated on purchasing a legitimate camera. I first saw her passion for taking pictures and in capturing this world through a lens, when our friends Joe and Monica had a Nikeon. Every time we would go visit them, my wife would take the Nikeon and shoot everything in sight. While taking pictures with this camera, I could not help nut notice the glow and her obvious enjoyment she received in doing so.

I have finally gave my wife the "go ahead" in purchasing the camera. We are just waiting on gathering the necessary funds to make the purchase. In her excitement of the "go ahead" from me, we began to talk about her growing passion of picture taking. The conversation went something like this;

Me: So...why do you like taking pictures anyway?

Meghan: I don't know, I have to think about that...

Me: I guess before we just throw a substantial amount of money toward a camera, I would like to understand why this is something that you want to pursue.

Meghan: Well... I guess I love the challenge of capturing, the sometimes fleeting, beauty in a still form.

Me: Fair enough, that sounds like a God thing. What do you think?

Meghan: Oh, here we go...You can't stop doing that can you? Ya know, the whole 'everything going back to God' thing...(I must admit this is a familiar tangent that I often go on, but Meghan loves it...at least I think she does.)

Me: Now hear me out, I think it is a God thing, there is beauty all around us all the time, but it is so easy to get caught up in the ugliness of it all, and forget about beauty. I think its cool that you want to capture that, and maybe refer to that, when things get ugly. Is this true or am I just looking to hard at this?

Meghan: Nahh, in all seriousness I think there is truth to that. But taking pictures isn't just about the capturing of beauty for me. It is sorta like...um, kind of like meditation. There is something about it that calms me, it brings a new pace and rhythm to my life.

Me: Really, now that is interesting! Its kind of like a discipline then. You find yourself drawn closer to God when you take pictures. Some people find quite places to think, pray, and to just slow life down. But, you take pictures. That is interesting!

Meghan: I guess you can say that. Buy why is that so interesting.

Me: Well I was reading the book, and the name of the book slips me right now, but the author suggested to allow the everyday events to become sacred. Instead of adding more and more "disciplines", just allow what you already love to do to be Holy. This author enjoyed brewing coffee and he talked about how he allowed God to show up in this brewing process. It was rather fascinating.

Me: And I think that's what it sounds like you are doing when you take pictures. You are allowing God to show up in something that you already love to do.

Meghan: Sounds good to me, its your turn to take the boy out of the car, I did it last time.

(I think this was a hint to move one, so that's what I did.)

This conversation is so important today. Many think that religion is nothing more then a "to-do" list, and there is substantial guilt for you, if you are unable to meet this list. But what if we could begin to find God in what we already love to do.? Instead of filling our lives with more and more "stuff", what if our "stuff" became sacred? And here is a crazy thought, what if God doesn't want you to snooze through a traditional discipline, but He loves us so much that He is willing to unveil Himself in what we already find interesting. Isn't this what we find in Jesus? Instead of barking orders from "way up there" God expressed His love for His Creation by showing up in our world.

This is not to say that prayer, fasting, and the study of scripture is not important. But if we can hand the keys over to God in our passions and let Him make those passions sacred, maybe we will find our relationship with God in a place where it never has been.

-dj

http://audaciousliturgy.blogspot.com/