Plans for the Future

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'" James 4:13-15

I have to remember that. If I think I have the power to carry out my plans, and yet God has another plan for me that I'm ignoring, it will not go well with me. I'll be fighting against Him - how can He bless me? That's why I keep checking with Him - "is my plan Your plan?"

That said, it came to me some time ago, after the encouragement of many friends, that I should develop a photography business. So I clumsily started down that path, spending way too much money on photography gear (see the post on Photography Gear as evidence) - money I didn't have but was "hoping" I would make back in a jiffy. It hasn't exactly worked out that way. I've made some money at it, but am in debt more than I should be. I have a lot to learn about aligning my will with God's purpose for me.

In the meantime, it's been very interesting. I have learned more about photography in the past three years than probably the sum total of what I knew before. And one thing I've learned is that if I go at the pace I think I should go, I'll probably kill myself with exhaustion in the process. So I've had to slow down and keep my ear inclined to God's subtle whispers. I'm working a full time job here, you know? I can't stay up until all hours feeding my creative urges and expect to get up for work the next morning and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I am not Superman. The body rebels: "Hey, what do you think you're doing here?"

So I've learned to see things from a different perspective. Go at a little more reasonable pace - this will take time. And along the way I get encouraging signs. A photo job here, another one there. Somebody gives me an encouraging word. Somebody else asks for my business card - and practice, practice, practice.

The Strobist has done more to improve my photography than probably any other single educational resource I've engaged in in my 30 years of shooting. And one of the things David Hobby does on the site is to point the way to resources such as other photographers' sites, books, and the like. Thank you, David Hobby. I hope to return the favor some day, in a way that will bless you beyond measure.