Getting Outside

Lake Lowell Sunset

I love all of the sunshine that we have been getting lately. The clear blue skies. The hint of Spring in the air as the green buds on the trees start to bud out. The brown grass is turning a brilliant shade of emerald green.

My wife has been trying to convince me all week to get outside and go take some photographs. I have been reluctant to do so since it has been so cold outside, even though the sun is out, and the cold wind has been blowing. The wind chill factor makes it feel 20 degrees cooler. As a photographer, even with gloves on, my hands feel like they start to cramp up around the lens and the body of the camera. When shooting landscape and wildlife photography, I like my hands to be as flexible as possible and to feel loose and free around the camera. With gloves on it feels very restricting.

Yesterday I agreed to layer up and go out in the evening to take some photographs around Lake Lowell. I wanted to go to the visitors center, but they closed their gates at 4 pm and by the time that I got there it was close to 7 pm. I ended up hiking down the road to the visitors center and walking around the nature trail. It was amazing to see all of the wildlife that was out just before sunset. There were bird calls all around me. Quail running across the lawn and fluttering into the brush. Deer strolling by the lakeside. Rabbitts were out of the brush and sitting in the open. I had a great time out at Lake Lowell and I am planning future trips out there again.

Get out there and explore this beautiful world that God is sharing with us. Remember to be prepared to get a little cold and bundle up.

Sage Grass

Oak Sunset

Is it Winter or Spring?

I am confused by this Idaho weather. Four days ago it was 65 degrees, was very pleasant outside, and the grass on the lawn was turning from grey-brown to a nice shade of green. I'm not complaining, but it strikes me as a bit odd for it to change to a high of 40 and a chance of snow and hail. I moved to Idaho from a climate of perpetual drizzle rain in the Spring. It would rain, like in the Hollywood movies, in continual sheets of water and would not let up for weeks (if not months). But this is a nice change from that pattern. I was told that when I moved here that I would experience "true seasons." They were not kidding. I didn't expect the weather to play tricks on me and go in reverse for a few days.

As much as we complain about being stuck inside and not getting out in the winter, it is nice to sit inside and read a good book on a cold Winter day. This has been a great winter of new experiences that has left me more sentimental than I initially realized. I look forward to this season of change and the possibilities that life has to offer. I watch the trees, looking at the tips for new growth (called the apical meristems) that turn from brown to green. This is also the season of Lent in the Christian calender, where we are preparing for the sacrifice of Christ, so that he can be resurrected after three days of death. I think that sometimes we forget that we are continually being re-born again and becoming refreshed in Christ on a continual basis. This is our season of change.

A caterpillar has to change in order to become a butterfly. The caterpillar builds up the energy to prepare for its metamorphosis by eating a large amounts of leaves before it goes into it cocoon (I feel like this around Christmas). Once it is in its cocoon, the body of the caterpillar gradually makes its change, by slowly developing legs, wings and reducing it's body size (so that it can fly). Once it is ready to emerge, it must use up as much energy as it has in order to break free of its cocoon. If it doesn't have enough energy it will die and stay trapped in the cocoon. If it is able to break free, the butterfly emerges from its prison and is able to become all that God has it to be. The butterfly, once free, must also wait for it's wings to become open and to become functional, otherwise it will clearly fall out of the sky. If we try to help a stuck butterfly, it will also die because we are not allowing the process to naturally occur. So it is best to leave the butterfly alone.

Where are you on your journey this Spring? Are you still stuck inside this Winter? Or, are you like the butterfly and willing to break free and fly?