From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

I just got some film developed of some photos I took with a disposable camera I keep in my car for emergencies. My definition of an emergency means using the disposable to take interesting shots when my digital camera is not with me!

I’d like to share some pix with you now. You may be starting to realize I have kind of a warped sense of humor. I am always looking for the humor in everything, especially where the message and the picture don’t quite match up.

The first picture I took at a drive-through ATM at my bank. Take a close look at it. The instructions are in Braille to the right of the screen. Now just think about that for a minute. No walkups are allowed… Perhaps that’s what the message says (one can only hope)! Well, I suppose the blind person was being driven up to the ATM, and the bank, not wanting to be discriminating against blind persons, put the instructions there for them to follow. I can see it now. The blind person would have to crawl over the driver or sit on their lap or something in order to be able to read the Braille with their fingers. Then what? I should ask somebody what it tells them to do so I have this mystery cleared up in my mind. I think it probably tells them special assistance is available at the drive through window and tells them the hours. Because there are no interactive Braille buttons that come up on the touch screen at my bank’s ATM. Hmmm…!

Now to the sublime: I wish these pictures could capture the awe and amazement I felt at the huge vista of strong diffused light that pierced through the slight cloud cover in these photos. A panoramic camera may have been able to catch more of the breath-taking, heart-stopping wonderment at this amazing prelude to a sunset!

I find it so amazing at all the beauty around us in creation. Not only dramatic or color-drenched sunsets, but the wonder and joy on a child’s face, the love between a mother and child or two lovers for each other, and the wide array of colors, shapes, sizes and varieties of the plants and creatures (yes, even human creatures!) God has made for us to enjoy.

My faith lesson for today and charge to you is: continue to be better observers of the world around you. Look for unexpected blessings every day. They are waiting for you to discover them. God has as amazing a sense of humor as he does a sense of what awes us and draws us to him. So let your eyes and ears and nose and taste and touch keep you connected to him throughout your day!