Snapshots of Life

Snapshots of Life. Of living. Of being.


A photograph ... capturing a second of a moment in time and space. People frozen in time, forever.


Like this ...

Jeff and Karen in Paris

Looking at this photograph we, the viewer, have no connection or attachment to it or the setting (some of you don't even have know who Jeff and Karen are). We look at this photograph and say "gorgeous setting" or "don't they look happy" or even "wow". But we are not there, we are not Jeff and Karen, and we are not the photographer. Jeff and Karen, however, will look back on this photograph someday in the future and will remember not only where they were but who they were with (Bernard and Tracey), what they were doing moments before this photograph was taken, where they went moments after. Maybe they will remember where they ate breakfast or lunch, maybe where they shopped, or where they ate dinner. This photograph, to Jeff and Karen, will bring back a memory of visual images and a flood of emotions. They are connected to this photograph, to this event, to this moment in time and space. We, we are merely outside observers that have knowledge ... you now having more knowledge after reading this paragraph than you may have had just looking at the picture. But knowledge isn't a cue to memory and knowledge does trigger emotional responses.

Now, imagine living your entire life as the unattached viewer of a photograph. Imagine you have no connection to not only the visual cues of photographs but also the visual and audible cues of video images. Imagine having no emotional correlation to anything that you are seeing or hearing. You would not, could not, ever be involved in a life that you have no relationship to. 

That, THAT has been my life to this point in time. Snippets of a life that I have lived, a photograph of a moment forever frozen in time but not connected to me. Until this point in my life.

I imagine that most people can recall a moment in their life and remember what they were doing, where they were, and who they were with. I imagine that THIS is finally how things are becoming for me. Finally, after a lifetime of lack, I will have a full and complete picture. Not merely what I know, for knowing is different that memory, than remembering. I will have a complete picture of a life not only known about but also remembered. 

It is a scary thing. It is an exciting thing. It is a miraculous thing. It is a first. Finally, it is all me.

Monica and Kim

This is me and one of my very best friends on Rosedale Dr. in Las Cruces. It was taken on the way to high school, Mayfield High School. We had just stepped out of the house and her brother, Danny, snapped this picture of us as he was teasing us (an activity that he did often when he was home). We will come back to her house after school and listen to Donny Osmond and the Beatles White Album, drink sodas and munch on chips, and we will talk about the boys in high school, the girls in high school, and we will try our hardest to fit in even though we both know that we will not ever fit in. 

I remember, not only this day but many days such as this at Kim's house.

The Sounds of Silence

So, I am sitting here (well, laying actually) in what would be absolute quiet, if not for the small plane landing at Langley, with myLittle Kitty on one side and myAnnie on the other, pondering the deep silence of the house. A silence, now that the plane has landed, that isn't even disturbed by the breathing of the animals beside me. 


This, I realize, is the first time in my entire life that I have had a moment of total silence "all-to-myself". It is rather disconcerting and yet ... and yet it is also rather amazing. 


There is a calm in this deep silence. 


The caucophany that causes stress andstringshighemotionintoanxiousactivityis, well, is gone. 


I simply ... am. 


That may not seem like a lot to most people but to me ... me, myselves and I? Well, this is like being in paradise, or how I would imagine paradise to be, not ever having been to an island paradise. It may be a once in MY lifetime occurrence, or THE calm before a storm, or simply a gift from many to one. It MAY mean absolutely nothing. OR, it MAY be the dawning of a new ME.

Slice of Life: A Daily Story

I have found my next big  365 day adventure. Ruth and Stacey at Two Writing Teachers encourage readers to reflect on a moment of a day, 31 days specifically, March 1st to March 31st — bring a small slice into focus, and consider it as a writer. So, I have decided to utilize their challenge, take a small slice of each day for a year (ack! Am I crazy?), consider it and write about it. Look for this crazy adventure not only here in this blog but also on facebook where I'll be posting them in notes. I'll be starting in exactly 67 days, since there are 66 days remaining on my 365 Daily Photographic Gratitude Journal. Hard to believe a year is almost complete. It went by far too quickly.

The End

And so it all comes to an end for yet another year. The Lenten Dailies, the Stations of the Cross, the Encouraging words that I have been doing (on Facebook). I have learned so much about myself through the writings this year, through the readings of the posts by my friends, through the comments made by friends and acquaintances. I have grown and the most important thing through these Lenten encounters is that I have seen the growth. Even more impressive is that I like who I have grown into.


Change is hard to embrace at times, especially change within oneself. It has taken me some seventeen years to reach this point of maturity, to become the woman that I see myself as today. It has taken me some seventeen years to say honestly, I like the person I am becoming. 


I thank God for this journey during Lent this year.

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Fourteenth Station:  Jesus is Placed in the Tomb (Matthew 27: 57-60)

The Tomb

 ^57-61 Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate granted his request. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, a new tomb only recently cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb.

Jesus impacted the lives of many Many individuals. He impacted groups of people. He impacted those whom He walked among, people from before and future people. Jesus made an impression and an imprint upon all of humanity for all of eternity. Jesus was, is, and ever shall be THAT person - THE person who touches the lives of all who hear about Him. Thus it was so even as He died upon that cross. And moved, the Arimathean asked to place the body of Jesus Christ into a tomb that he owned. Impact; then, now and forever. Thank God!


Father God, Your son, a simple unassuming man is known of by millions and millions of people - loved, hated, praised, jeered, cared for, tortured. There is no in between. And Jesus Himself stated that it would be so - none could straddle the fence, you are either for Him or against Him. None can be "lukewarm". Father God, may I always be "on fire" for You through Your sacrificial son Jesus Christ. May I NEVER "stay upon the fence". May I always be with You Father God, now and forever, through Your son, Jesus Christ.

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 40 - a quote describing who you are now

"Just let awareness have its way with you completely." 
 ~Scott Morrison

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Thirteenth Station:  Jesus Dies on the Cross (Luke 23: 44-46)

 ^44-46 By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, "Father, I place my life in your hands!" Then he breathed his last.

Into Your hands. What absolute obedience, what absolute trust and confidence, what absolute love. Jesus Christ died for ALL of us, for ME, and He placed His spirit assuredly into His Father's loving hands. 


Father God, may I always have the confidence and assured response that Jesus has upon the cross. May I ALWAYS know that I am Yours.

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 39 - a quote about how you have changed

“I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be... This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages...the delayed adolescent, the childish adult, but that they are in me to be drawn on; to forget is a form of suicide... Far too many people misunderstand what *putting away childish things* means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup. When I'm with these people I, like the kids, feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don't ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, and *be* fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup.”
~ Madeline L'Engle

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Twelfth Station:  Jesus Speaks to His Mother and the Disciple (John 19: 25-27)

^{24-2 7}While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus' mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.

This is the humanity of Jesus ... the love of his mother who has given birth to him, raised him, cared for him. He assures that she is taken care of at his death not by his siblings but rather by the apostle whom he loved the best. He asks that John care for her and likewise that she looks after John. Those whom Jesus loved the most in the world. It is as if his heart would be broken had he not been assured that those He loved the most in the world were cared for. Who better to care for them than they who cared so much for Him? Jesus' love seems boundless, even at his death bed. Jesus cares not for himself but for those He loves.


Father God, I am ever as loved by Jesus Christ. Thank you Father God.

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Eleventh Station:  Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the Good Thief (Luke 23: 39-43)

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: "Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!"

 ^40-41 But the other one made him shut up: "Have you no fear of God? You're getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this."

 ⁴² Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom."

 ⁴³ He said, "Don't worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise."

"Remember me." It is so ridiculously hard to believe that it could be that simple. "Remember me." But that was the point, the purpose, justified by His death on the cross. We are, ALL of humanity, to live eternally with God in paradise because God justifies each of us to Himself through Jesus Christ. It IS that simple. We need only say, "Jesus, remember me."


Father God, and so I ask of Jesus Christ, Your son, and of You, "Remember me."

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 38 - a quote about when you were young

"When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.
The End"
~ A. A. Milne, Now We Are Six

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Tenth Station:  Jesus is Crucified (Luke 23: 33-34)

^{3 3}When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

 ^34-35 Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

   Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, "He saved others. Let's see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!"

Everything leads up to this moment, the crucifixion. From birth, through ministry, to arrest and trial culminating in this moment. "They nailed him to a wooden cross to die a crim'nal's death. They scorned him in his final hours as he labored for each breath. (...) Truly this was God's only son, convicted, condemned and now crucified." Innocent save for us, humanity. He died because of us, he died for us. We died with him. I died with him.


Father God, I have said this before but there really isn't enough thank yous that can be lifted up to you for your sacrifice. Because of His death, I have life. Thank you.

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 37 - a quote about something from your bucket list

"I like the spirit of a bucket list if not the exact phrase. I like exhilarating memories but not to the exclusion of meaningful experiences. And I like lofty goals if they do not obscure the rest of what matters."
~ Christopher Peterson, PhD

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 36 - a quote about your day 


"What my day is like depends on where I am." 
 ~ Daniela Pestova

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Ninth Station:  Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem (Luke 23: 27-31)

Skull Hill

 ^27-31 A huge crowd of people followed, along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they'll say, 'Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!' Then they'll start calling to the mountains, 'Fall down on us!' calling to the hills, 'Cover us up!' If people do these things to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they'll do with deadwood?"

What difficult words Jesus spoke to the women who wailed and wept and moaned. What do they mean, these words that feel so harsh? Were they prophetic words? According to one commentary, Jesus is allowed to pause to speak to the women and he gives a warning to the total destruction of the Temple under the Roman Occupation. Isn't it odd that as Jesus is being marched off to death, surrounded by Roman soldiers so that none of his disciples who follow could attempt rescue, that He pauses to give warning to those near him? He thinks of others above himself even yet.


Father God, may I think of others before self even up to my dying day. May I always offer words of comfort to all people in my life. May I encourage and uplift, give warning and advice until I am no longer to speak.

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 35 – a quote about your night

"The repose of sleep refreshes only the body. It rarely sets the soul at rest. The repose of the night does not belong to us. It is not the possession of our being. Sleep opens within us an inn for phantoms. In the morning we must sweep out the shadows."
~ Gaston Bachelard

Lenten Daily Quotes

Day 34 – a quote to a person who you would love to trade places with for a day

"There are a few parts of my brain that are missing. I know this not because I used to have them, because I didn’t, but because of how other people refer to their own feelings and thoughts, which I simply can’t relate to or sometimes even decipher."
~ Cathy O'Neil

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Eighth Station:  Jesus is Helped by Simon the Cyrenian to Carry the Cross (Mark 15: 21)

The Crucifixion

 ²¹ There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus' cross.

It is immensely relieving to know that there are those who still offered aide to Jesus, especially in His darkest hours. I know from my own personal experience what a comfort it is to have the kindness of others, even strangers, at times when I am in the depths of despair. That Christ was left utterly alone by those closest to him, that the kindness of this stranger was a beacon of light, the love of his Father, well...I can only imagine. Did you feel the love? Did you know at that moment that your heavenly Father had not forsaken you? Did you understand that Simon the Cyrenian was the comforting hand that you so needed at that time?


Father God, may I always recognize your presence in my life, in whatever form you send it; be it through the smile of a stranger, the embrace of a loved one, or the kiss of family.

Via Crucis :: Immersion

Seventh Station:  Jesus Bears the Cross (John 19: 6, 15-17)

⁶ When the high priests and police saw him, they shouted in a frenzy, "Crucify! Crucify!"

   Pilate told them, "You take him. You crucify him. I find nothing wrong with him."

¹⁵ They shouted back, "Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!"   Pilate said, "I am to crucify your king?"   The high priests answered, "We have no king except Caesar." ^16-19 Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.The Crucifixion   They took Jesus away. Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, Jesus in the middle. Pilate wrote a sign and had it placed on the cross. It read: 
   Jesus the Nazarene the King of the Jews.

Jesus bears the cross, the burdens of all of humanity, the sins of all humanity. Jesus takes the weight of the entire world upon his shoulders and walks through the town to place of his crucifixion. "Truly He has born our sorrows; truly He has born our griefs. He was chosen for us; alone He stands there for us. The sin of all of us was placed on Him."


Father God, how can I thank you for sending YOUR son, your one and only son to carry the weight of my burden, my sorrows, my griefs, my guilt, my sin? What can I do in return? What of me is of worth for such a sacrifice?