The language of photography is violent. We shoot with our cameras, capture an image, take a photo, grab a head shot, and even the slightly less violent but still very much ego driven, make a photograph.
Instead we are invited to see, to receive an image, and accept the image as a gift. All of this takes being aware and receptive and present in the moment.
First, just take a minute to behold this image and as you gaze is there somewhere that you eyes rest? Try not to think too much but just see where you instinctively come to rest. Does part of the image call you in?
The lines are strong in this photograph. There are horizontals in the railway ties and the horizon. There are verticals in the trees and closer foliage.
Consider the vertical and horizontal dimensions of our spiritual life, where the vertical dimension evokes a God who is transcendent (who exists beyond our normal), and the horizontal, One who is incarnational (the God who knows our fleshy existence) . Horizontal and vertical lines work together to form grids where your eye can rest and feel held.
Paintner, Christine Valters. The Eyes of the Heart (p. 63).
Most striking in this image are the diagonal lines of the train tracks leading our eye to the horizon and beyond into the distant trees. There is mystery in this journey. Where does it lead?
What is the story in this image? For me it raises questions… Am I on track? Is this the right track? Where does this track lead?
Is there an invitation to you in this image?
Take another moment to gaze, is there anything else for you to see?
Take in the whole again, is there anything else you notice?
I am grateful for all that has been revealed to us in this image and from our imaginative seeing and experiencing. May we have eyes that are open to receive the gifts in the world around us that remind us of your transcendence, the God who exists way outside and beyond our normal experience, and your incarnation, the God who knows in the person of Jesus what it is to be in our flesh. And the mystery of the intersection of those things. Amen.
Photo credit: Sarah Pickering, November 2023