A New Lens

Sometimes I wake up and feel like I'm completely alone on a deserted landmass in the middle of the Caribbean. It seems like the "real" life is somewhere far away. My busy American psyche repels the laid-back life of the Caribbean and I start to feel a yearning for a Walmart, a traffic jam, a free re-fill, or challenging schedule. Maybe you feel this way about being at home with little ones or stuck at a job that you don't particularly enjoy. It's easy to gripe about where we'd like to be and where we aren't.

But then I realize that if I'm not careful with my wishing for my return to the busy life, I'll "pile up enough tomorrows, and find I've collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” I've known people that go from place to place, relationship to relationship and always seem to complain about what they're missing. I'm afraid that at the end of our lives, we might sit down and realize that we never grasped that capricious ghost of a dream we were chasing.

So this morning I took a deep breath, grabbed my lens and set out on my quest to make today meaningful and beautiful. I'm on a quest to get rid of my empty yesterdays....one shutter speed at a time.

I found halos in the sky.


I found a bird posing for me in the distance.


I found delightfully yellow and slime-covered rocks.


A tree that is still holding on after many years of storms.


Another tree full of character and stories.


And a breath-taking view of this place I call home.


Wherever you are, put on a new lens and see the beauty around you. It's there...sometimes it just takes time to see it.