Visio Divina & this year’s Calendar
This is the time of year when the shortening of days shrinks our exposure to the sunlight and its healing UV rays. It also seems to be the time when we find a preponderance of personal challenges, even crises of emotional health and family cohesion in some cases. To say it isn’t so is living in denial. When I was a pastor, tending a flock of several hundred people, this time of year seemed especially busy with pastoral calls and visits to the hospital. Clearly this isn’t everybody’s story nor is it always present even in those places where it tends to happen. But honestly, I know some people who intentionally travel to sunny places, or go on an adventure just to get through the holidays.
One of my discoveries for self care in this aspect of my own journey has been using photography to help me in the exercise of lament, which is a form of grieving prayerfully, but also finding solid ground under all of the intricacies and vagaries of my own mental and spiritual health. This year’s calendar gives viewers some of the tools to help in these moments and is one piece of how I utilize “visio divina.”
When I take pictures of certain things, I find myself hunkering down in a quiet moment, or reflective pondering a moment in creation. It puts me on solid ground somehow. It helps me find peace and grow my inner strength for whatever life brings when it seems that light is in short supply.
Pick up your calendar for 2018 and join my growing community as we develop greater reflective muscles for growing thru the dark spots. The journey is not just about dark spots, but right now, I’m thinking of that piece in this journey of Visio Divina.
  • Here’s the calendar.
  • Here’s the place to subscribe so you can learn new things about photography. Adding soul to your photography but also important tips on taking better pictures.
  • Here’s where you can get access to digital versions of over 70 of my award winning photos so you can make your own prints, cards, or anything else you can imagine with these photos.

Photo credit: Bethlehem. This a major street leading to manger square in the city of the birth of Jesus.