Photo Club

I've had a number of discussions with various photographers that live in my area and there's talk of starting up a photo club, which I'm really excited about.  I think it would be a great chance to learn from one another and be challenged in our photography.  Right now my biggest challenge is just getting my camera out of the camera bag (and the cold weather is not helping my case)!  I am starting up 2 photography classes for youth in the next few months - one is a Sunday school class at my church and the other is similar to the 2 classes I taught at the high school last year.  I just feel a little guilty making my students go out and take pictures when I'm not doing the same thing myself.

Certainly the photo club would be good motivation for me to be deliberate in my photography again (and I would feel less hypocritical with my students!).  I'm not jumping on the "Project 365" train just yet, but maybe I can start with a picture of the week/month (we'll see how it goes!) - check out Vera's Project 365 at verasviewfinder.blogspot.com.

The Cost of Gratitude

From my devotional "Our Journey" today (Nancy Leigh Demoss):

"Scottish preacher George Matheson (1842 - 1906) began losing his eyesight in late adolescence for no apparent reason.  By age twenty he was totally blind, as a result of which his fiancee broke off their engagement.  He struggled for many long months with a broken heart, wrestling with unanswered questions.  The whole experience nearly drove him to despair and he was tempted to quit the ministry altogether.  Yet ultimately he came to the place where he could say:

'My God, I have never thanked you for my thorn!  I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn.  Teach me of the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns.  Show me that I have climbed to you by the path of pain.  Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.'"

Have You Seen Candace?

My heart goes out to the Derksen family as they endure the trial of the man accused of snatching their 13-year old daughter and sister Candace off a Winnipeg street in 1984, tying her up and leaving her to freeze to death.  I just finished reading Wilma's (her mom) book "Have You Seen Candace?", written in 1991.  Though I don't believe that God desires horrible and tragic things in our lives, I do believe that He can use them for His good.  God's plans must be huge for the Derksen family, having to wait for so many years, that justice may or may not be served now.  The Derksen family continues to talk about forgiveness and it's so hard for most people to understand, that is, until you've experienced forgiveness yourself.

Unforgiveness held me captive for so many years.  I heard sermons about it but I thought that my abuser should suffer - he doesn't deserve forgiveness for what he's done to me.  And I can't really tell you what changed, but I finally realized that I was the prisoner by choosing not to forgive.  My part was to let go and God's part is to deal with the rest (because it's not like I can really change anything else about the situation anyway).  It's easy to try to blame others, but that doesn't help either.  Deciding to forgive does not take away the pain and it doesn't erase what has happened, but I can tell you that there is freedom.

Not So Different

partnersworld.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=160&Itemid=285

7 Deadly Social Sins

Politics without Principle

Wealth without Work

Commerce without morality

Pleasure without conscience

Education without Character

Science without Humanity

Worship without Sacrifice

~Gandhi

The Bata Project

I love it when people get involved - they stop looking around and waiting for others to affect change, and decide to do something themselves.  Check out The Bata Project (even better because I love it when grassroots things happen in my own backyard) at bataproject.org and order yourself one of these adorable pins.  Your $12 sends a Filipino child to school for an entire year!  If you're in Winnipeg, they will personally deliver your pin to you for free!  Check it out and get involved by supporting this great cause.  Spend your $12, wear the pin and then figure out how you can go out and make a difference in your own community!  Way to go Glenda!

Displaced Reflections - Part 2

From the book "Displaced Reflections" by Oddny Gumaer (www.partnersworld.ca):

BEAUTY

"I think they are beautiful.  I don't think I've ever thought the refugees weren't.  Not the beauty of perfect bodies and a face free from wrinkles.  Not the beauty of brand name clothes.  Not the beauty of spotless complexions, perfectly styled hair or smiles of  bright write teeth.

"They are beautiful because they have lived.  In their faces history is written.  Their hands tell stories.  Their feet are wrinkled and brown from years of walking without good shoes, through jungles and over fields, maybe down the busy streets to the market.  Maybe they were running from soldiers at their villages burned in the background.  You could tell that the colors in their clothes were once bright and bold.  Some of them were woven on old looms in their bamboo houses.  To add to the already intricate patterns, they added seeds they found in the jungle or in the fields.  Now, however, they had become faded and dingy from years of use and hard work.  Many of the pretty seeds have fallen out.  There are holes in several places.

"Still I find their clothes more beautiful than expensive designer outfits from exclusive boutiques.  Their backs are straight and their heads lifted high.  Often they carry their loads on their heads.  The humiliations they have suffered have not made them change their proud stature.

"They are beautiful.  Their beauty tells a story.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (January 15, 1929), celebrated on the third Monday of January, part of his "I Have a Dream" speech (August 28, 1963):

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream2.htm

Southern Manitoba Community Band

Check out the information about the community band I'm a part of.  We would still like to have more people/instruments join us, so dust yours off and come out Tuesday nights (for January and February, with our concert on Feb. 26).

www.pembinavalleyonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20485&Itemid=33

Sick

I hate being sick.  It's like I got hit by a train and my usually energetic self is pushed aside and life is put on hold.  I have a nose like Rudolph and have turned into a mouth-breather.  I have already gone through a number of boxes of Kleenex and I don't see an end in sight (of mucus, that is!).  It certainly reminds me of the fact that I have lived most of my life in relatively good health and take that foregranted too often.

Displaced Reflections

I just finished reading the book "Displaced Reflections" by Oddny Gumaer.  Together with pictures of internally displaced persons (refugees in their own country), she writes about her experiences in Burma (now Myanmar) from a real and raw perspective.  Her writing really resonated with me and I'd like to share some of it with you.  You can find out more about her and her work with Partners Relief & Development at partnersworld.ca

THINGS THAT DON'T GO AWAY

"Perhaps the mess in the bedroom will go away if I do not go in there.  Could it be that by not thinking about them, the calories in the cake I just ate will disappear?

Sometimes I do the same thing with suffering in the world.  I turn the switch off in my head and believe that as long as the volume is on mute, there is nothing happening that I need to worry about.  As long as I switch the channel on the TV away from upsetting news about children starving to a channel with a relaxing comedy, I am safe.  I can't be blamed for something I do not know about.

If I go about my very important business of doing the things that I think are very important, I do not have to think about the uncomfortable stories of children being taken away from their parents and tortured to death, of families hiding in unsafe places with nothing to eat and only each others' horror-stricken faces as a shield of protection against a brutal enemy.  If I just do not think about it, it may not actually be happening."

Fair Trade Manitoba

Check out my Jolica connection, plus many other great places to find fair trade items in Manitoba at fairtrademanitoba.ca.  You can find me under "Altona" or "Clothing and Accessories" or "Other".

It's about a Person

I am passionate about Fair Trade!  You might say, "well, you have to be - you sell it."  No, it's the other way around - I sell it because that's how passionate I am about it.  Jolica has great sales, plus a new project and mini catalogue in January, but it's about so much more than that to me.

I've done a lot of reading about fair trade over the holidays and will once again advocate for the book fair trade:  a human journey by Eric St-Pierre.  Just as the title states, I was given a human face for fair trade.  Fair Trade is not about a product, it's about a person.  It is honoring people 1/2 way around the world that do jobs we would probably never be willing to do, making sure that they have safe working conditions and are paid fairly for their time, talent, and product.  The real question is, "Would we accept anything less for ourselves?"  I wouldn't and I'm guessing that you wouldn't either, so that is exactly the reason to support fair trade - because less would not be acceptable for ourselves so it shouldn't be acceptable for anyone else on the planet.

When I consider the many luxuries that we have at the snap of a finger in North America - coffee, tea, flowers, chocolate. . . - I can't for the life of me expect another human to be broken (financially, physically. . .) just so I can have that LUXURY, not necessity, but something that makes my cushy life even cushier.  I always leave Ten Thousand Villages with a huge smile, though I probably shouldn't have spent money that day, the money that I just spent went to making sure that another human being on the planet has a safe, stable job where they are paid fairly, have a say in their working conditions and are able to access services we take for granted on a daily basis (education, medical, food & clean water. . .).  Please consider how you can support fair trade this year.  It does not have to be Jolica (though I'd love your business!), it does not even have to be big, just start.  Start, because it's not about a product, it's about a person.

Dream Big

I was going through some papers today and found this poem.  I don't know who wrote it but it must have come to me as an email along the way.  I thought it would be the perfect post for the new year.

DREAM BIG

If there were ever a time to dare,
to make a difference,
to embark on something worth doing,
it is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily-
but for something that tugs at your heart,
something that's your aspiration,
something that's your dream.
You owe it to yourself
to make your days here count.
Have fun.
Dig deep.
Stretch.
Dream big.
Know, though, that things worth doing
seldom come easy.
There will be good days.
And there will be bad days.
There will be times when you want to turn around,
pack it up,
and call it quits.
Those times tell you that your are pushing yourself,
that you are not afraid to learn by trying.
Persist.
Because with an idea,
determination,
and the right tools,
you can do great things.
Let your instincts,
your intellect,
and your heart
guide you.
Trust.
Believe in the incredible power of the human mind.
Of doing something that makes a difference.
Of working hard.
Of laughing and hoping.
Of lazy afternoons.
Of lasting friends.
Of all the things that will cross your path this year.
The start of something new
brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible.
There is only one you.
And you will pass this day only once.
Do it right.

Lead Me to the Cross

lyrics by Brooke Fraser

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemption's hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, lead me to the cross

You were as I
Tempted and trialed
You are
Te word became flesh
Bore my sin and death
Now you're risen

To your heart
To your heart
Lead me to your heart
Lead me to your heart

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 - May it be a year filled with possibilities!  And enjoy the day:  1/1/11!