Towering ponderosa pine trees reached up to touch a blue December sky. Their top branches waved to billowy white clouds sailing over snow-covered Colorado forest. Sniffing sweet-scented Ponderosa bark filled my head with aroma of Christmas candles and butterscotch cookies.I lowered my tripod to ground, and pointed my camera lens toward top branches of these living giants. Their pinnacles formed a lofty monument to centuries of natural perfection. If these trees could talk, they would tell tales of forest dating back hundreds of years.
The sky was alive with moving cloud forms. I thought, "Maybe there will be some angel clouds to photograph today." I walked into a small clearing to get a full view of moving clouds. Suddenly I froze in my tracks, amazed at what I saw.
Upon a large boulder was a perfect angel made of snow. She posed graciously with wings spread while I photographed her from several perspectives. Her framed image would make a unique Christmas gift for a friend who collects angels.
I had witnessed again magnificent perfection of nature; its artistic forest patterns are filled with divine symbols. All of creation bares God's signature in ways we can read it.
Like a moment of compelling photographic light, every moment can bring gifts of joy and empowerment. Yet we must attend to them, and choose to see them with new eyes. Awareness allows us to see through eyes of spirit, and understand with heart.
How can we increase our level of awareness to fill our moment-to-moment experiences with more wonder and joy?
1. Stop, and attend purposefully to sights, sounds, smells, and feelings in present moment. Accept this unique moment as your own, and notice perspective from which you view it.