The other day I was looking through my photos at work, when a co-worker came up behind me and asked if I had taken them. The shot on the screen was one I took in the early morning of a spider’s web draped in dew and surrounded by fog, with the morning sun glistening off the dewdrops. Can you tell it’s one of my favorites?
I replied and told him that yes I was indeed the photographer. He then asked me how I got the picture. I was a little confused. How? Well, I aimed the camera and pressed the shutter – what did he mean?
No no, that’s not what he meant, he told me. He asked, “Did you spray it with water to get it like that? Did you have some artificial light to get that coloring?” He then proceeded to tell me about a photographer friend of his that carries those tools around with him to get those types of shots.
I was flabbergasted. And slightly irritated, I have to admit. Why wouldn’t he just be patient and wait for the right subject? Why did that photographer feel he needed to alter something to suit his needs? Couldn’t he have gotten a lovely picture by leaving it the way it was?
Maybe I am naïve, but I hate to mess with a natural subject to get a shot that I want. It is so much more rewarding – for me, at least - to get a beautiful picture in its natural state, even if I have to wait for it.
No, I had not artificially altered the spider’s web to get the shot I wanted. God set it up for me, and I just pressed the shutter. It was perfect the way it was – naturally beautiful.
Later, I found myself gazing at the shot once more and thinking back to my interaction with my co-worker, trying to dampen down the irritation I still felt, when something occurred to me.
God is probably just as irritated with me a lot of the time.
I am my biggest critic.
I continually have to battle thoughts that tell me I am not pretty enough, smart enough, skinny enough, generous enough, nice enough, compassionate enough…..the list goes on.
However, when I stopped to think about it I realized that, like the spider web, I don’t need to alter a thing.
God created me exactly the way I am – and no spray bottle or artificial light is going to make me any more perfect in the eyes of God.
Inside and out, he knows everything about me. He knows all my imperfections and, believe it or not, does not think they are imperfections at all.
Sometimes I think to myself, “God, why couldn’t you have made me this way?” or “Why can’t I do this as well as that person?”
But when I fail to see the beauty in what He has already created, it is like that photographer who carries the spray bottle and light system around. Sure, he may be adding something to the picture – but if it’s not natural, what is the point? Isn’t there beauty in what is already in front of him?
God created all of us to be exactly who we are – with the talents and gifts that we have at this moment. Not more, not less. And what we have is amazing, if only we will allow ourselves to see it.
Rather than becoming critical and seeing how we can improve on his creation, maybe we should start looking at what we have and see what kind of picture we can get with that.
Leave the spray bottle at home.
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