A Sad Demise

As I watched a piece of heavy equipment tear down an old building that had long been an historic landmark in our town, I thought, “This is coming down much faster than it went up.”

According to an article in one of the local papers, those who attended the hotel’s grand opening in 1928 had deemed it “magnificent” and “gorgeous.” For many years, the four-story hotel attracted many visitors to the area and hosted civic club meetings, wedding receptions, showers, class reunions, and so forth.

But the years took their toll on the once grand hotel, and it had stood empty since the early 1990’s. Now, it’s being torn down, saddening many people and greatly altering the landscape.

I thought about the demise of the old hotel one recent morning as I heard a song on the radio that said, in part, “People don’t crumble in a day.” In other words, deterioration is usually a slow process, although when destruction is complete, it seems to have happened quickly. For example, through the years, neglect and the forces of time had been slowly destroying the old hotel. Yet, when the wrecking crews moved in, it was reduced to huge piles of rubble in a matter of hours. In about a week, all the debris had been hauled away, leaving the area ready to be used in a new way.

Similarly, we don’t often see the subtle changes that point to our demise. For example, we often fail to notice how our attitudes and actions are slowly propelling us down the path to pain and/or ruin. But, as the years pass, our condition becomes increasingly obvious. Our health begins to fail or our money runs out or our career ends abruptly or our reputation is ruined because of “little lapses” along the way.

Then, we, like the old hotel, come to an end that neither we nor anyone else expected when we set out upon life’s path. But as the song I heard also says, “It’s a slow thing when you give yourself away” or, to put it another way, when you and I give in to temptations that lead us down wrong paths.

As the Bible points out, there are definite steps that lead to destruction: ”Temptation comes from the lure of our own desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death” (James 1:14-15, New Living Translation.)

The King James Version, an older translation, describes the progression this way: “But every man [person] is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15).

So whether we read the older version or a more contemporary one, the path to ruin is easy to understand, isn’t it? Desires. Deeds. Death. Yet, we often don’t see the progression, because, as in the case of the old hotel, deterioration can be imperceptible—on a daily basis. But as time passes, we begin to see how far we’ve gone in the wrong direction, sometimes to the point of total ruin.

Little wonder, then, that the Bible says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do” (Proverbs 4:23, NLT). So, let’s keep watch over our daily choices, habits, and words, for they reflect the desires that are within our hearts.

© 2010 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill, http://www.jgaskill.com/.

Spring Will Come!

If I were to describe today, I could echo what Charles Dickens said years ago: “It [is] one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when the summer is in the light, and winter in the shade.”

The sun is shinning warmly enough (63 degrees, according to the thermometer), yet the brisk wind is bone-chilling. If I stand in a sheltered area, I don’t need a jacket; but if I walk out in an open space (such as my driveway), I need a coat, scarf, and gloves.

But soon it will be spring, for sure. The daffodils are finally blooming, albeit later this year than usual, and are dancing in the breeze. The ready-to-burst-open buds on the forsythia and other shrubs and trees will soon show off their colors.

Since spring has been delayed a bit this year, folks are saying this will be one of the most beautiful springs we’ve had in a long while. Rather than spring coming “here a little, there a little,” it will arrive all at once. Won’t that be delightful?

This winter has seemed to drag on and on, hasn’t it? Even folks here in the south have grown tired of it and are longing for spring. We are so ready to go outside and dig in the dirt. We long for sunshine’s warmth on our backs as we play and work outside. We’re eager to feel warm breezes blowing through our hair as we walk through neighborhoods ablaze with color.

Perhaps we love spring so much because, as Virgil A. Kraft said, “Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.”

In addition to beauty and comfort, spring brings hope—hope that God can and will make something beautiful of our lives and of the lives of others, hope that He will make something beautiful out of the ugliness that’s all too often seen and experienced in our world, hope that He will….

We know that no winter, no matter how long it lasts or how bitter it is, will last forever. Spring will follow, even if winter delays its arrival for a longer than usual time. Knowing that spring will come, one of these days, renews our hope that God will make all things beautiful in His time.

Consider, for example, the prophet, Jeremiah. He experienced a terrible winter of the soul, brought on by severe afflictions and frustrations that seemed to never end. After mentioning many of the things that caused his pain, he said, "The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’” (Lamentations 3:19-24).

Having said that, Jeremiah then added, “The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So, it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD” (v. 25-26).

Waiting during a long winter is so hard. But that waiting is made easier when we have hope that God will change things for the better, which He surely will. The coming of spring reminds us once again of that great truth.

©2010 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill. Scriptures quoted are from the New Living Translation.

There's Wonder All Around!

Everywhere I look, I see things that fill me with awe. For example, one mid-February afternoon, I went out into the yard to photograph. I had no idea what I’d find that would make a good subject for a photograph, but I felt confident I’d find something, even though the landscape was composed mainly of shades of brown, gray, and black.

With pleasure, I noticed that the tender daffodil shoots had survived the snow that had blanketed them a few days before.

Normally, I could find lots of beautiful camellia blooms to photograph, since we have several bushes, each producing a different kind of bloom, but all the blooms and buds had been “burned” by the bitterly cold temperatures.

“Maybe I can find one that looks good,” I said to myself. Sure enough, I found one in a sheltered spot near the bottom and center of the bush. So, I picked it and then placed it in a spot on the bush where I could photograph it more easily. It looked very natural there, so I set to work.



The 12 mm extension tube I’d added to my 50 mm lens before placing it on my camera greatly magnified what I was seeing through the viewfinder. So, I literally caught my breath as I noticed, as if for the first time, not only the beautiful pale pink color of the petals but their gently curving edges and the way they fit so perfectly together, layer upon layer. Amazing! A true work of art!

Enthralled by its loveliness, I lingered there, capturing thirty or more images of that one bloom, from various angles. Finally, I forced myself to leave and walked around the house to the holly tree that was loaded with red berries. I sprayed some of them with water, watching eagerly for a single drop that would form at the bottom of a berry or leaf. As soon as I spotted one, I set to work, hoping to capture the surrounding colors reflected in that tiny drop.


Once again, I gasped with wonder at the image in the viewfinder. Such perfection. Such beauty in the bright red berries and in the deep green of the leaves themselves and also in the tiny droplet.

I felt a similar sense of awe as I photographed nandina berries in the front yard and a tightly encased bud on the Japanese Magnolia tree.

When the cold compelled me to go inside, I didn’t want to lose the sense of wonder I’d felt. So, I moved a 6-inch pot of tulips into better light and began to photograph their centers. With window light lighting them from behind and “fill flash” from my camera lighting them from the front, I captured amazing details that I would have missed if I hadn’t slowed down to take a long look.

Experiences such as these remind me that wonder is, indeed, all around. Whenever I see it, it leads me to worship the One who created such wondrous details. I’m thankful I can do that. According to Romans 1:25, some folks worship the things God has made but stop short of worshipping Him. How sad to miss the joy and blessing of worship! But far more importantly, how unfair to deprive Him of the praise rightfully due Him!!


(c) 2010 by Johnnie Ann Gaskill. These photos as well as others on this blog are for sale. To purchase, please contact Johnnie.

Hanging On

After first hearing the term concept photography, I’ve tried—in vain—to find a clear definition. So, after reading the dictionary’s definition of concept and after looking at many examples of concept photography on websites, I’ve concluded that a concept photo is one that tells a story and/or illustrates an abstract idea or theme.

Although almost any photograph can tell a story or make a statement, concept photos are those that provide the viewer with a clearer idea of what something is. For example, no one can take a picture of abstract ideas such as love or loneliness, since they do not exist in physical form, as does a waterfall or a window. But photographs can be composed in such a way as to lead the viewer to conclude, “The person in this picture looks lonely. This photo gives me a better idea of what loneliness looks like, a broader concept of how it might feel to be lonely, a greater sensitivity to loneliness, etc." When that happens, the photograph is a concept one.

Sometimes simple items can be arranged in such a way as to express a concept. For example, an image of paper dolls of various sizes, linked hand to hand, implies family. A picture of ABC blocks, a notebook or two and a red apple causes viewers to associate that image with the concept of school or education. Hearts, especially red ones, symbolize love.

Ever since I first heard the term concept photography, I’ve been trying to understand what it means and to take photos that fit into that category. For example, one January day, while searching my yard for something to photograph, I noticed two dried up, brown leaves still attached to a limb. Aha! I thought. That’s an illustration of hanging on, of tenacity. Unlike the many other leaves that had once been attached to that same limb, the two leaves had held on, despite being pressured by the wind, drenched by the rain, and subjected to temperature changes. I have no clue how they had managed to hold on. Apparently, some leaves, like some people, have more “staying power” than others.

For people, Jeremiah 17:7, New Living Translation, holds one of the secrets to staying power: "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.”