Tag: mantra

I Shoot People Too ~ 8

Beauty

is in the eye.

Each person’s eye ~ I ~ is their personal vision to God. It cannot be shared. It is singular.

If a person does not have God at their center, they will be blown across the earth like an empty seed. But if you do have God at the center of your life, you will grow like a tree, by a river, with strong roots.  This is not scripture, verbatim, but a concept, painted from the words in the first Psalm. The first line is a mantra to me.

At one time, I didn’t know what a mantra was. I was stuck with my obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior. At seventeen, I once again tried to leave home. This time by marrying.

I had stepped off a cliff and I fell, til I hit the bottom.

Then I fell again and again and again.

With no education, no money, no nothing; life was not easy.

It whirled and swirled. The days were colorful, but eventually it was all night, no sunrise. My colors blended; thrown together. Overlapping ~ Boundriless.  BLACK.

That’s when I turned to God.

Like only the dying can.







The world turned.

I saw beautiful.

Calling on a Mantra

I woke up this morning calling on a mantra, to heal my monkey mind. I miss Costa Rica. I miss my garden and the family that lives with me down there.

I miss the love.

I browsed through my photos and one of my Nicaraguan adventures caught my eye. I went as a photographer on a Christian mission trip into three areas; Manchester, Tipi Tapa and the La Chureca dump. (if you can, please read the link on La Chureca for the facts) I hid behind the camera at times to hide my breaking heart. It was an overwhelming experience.These two live at the dump. A shanty town has developed there, housing the families that have come there seeking work. They go through the waste and recycle what’s there. I don’t know the exact facts, but it looked like a lot of other country’s excesses, such as old computers, are sent here because of their danger to the environment. The workers are hard at it in the day, earning a few pennies to support their families.I elbowed my way around to make sure this woman, got these shoes. I wanted her and no one else to have them. As I watched her, throughout the day, she was quiet and reserved. In this picture, her eyes seem to tell a story~a book perhaps. Those discarded flip-flops became very important to me. A person needs shoes you know. And a little color and style never hurt anyone!

This little girl chased the bus as we were leaving. She seemed so happy!

I love this photo and the girl’s shirt. Her eyes are as bright and full of life, as her shirt is dingy. It’s a positive thought/that we can change the world with our imaginations.

I know that as I sit here, in my room, in a place that I find myself not wanting to be, that these people are still at the dump. They have little food. And what they do have is what is brought into them by missionaries ~ a lot of rice and beans.

I’m glad I have these pictures to reflect on. I don’t pity these people. That day, yes, I saw  poverty. And when I left, I thought, now I know what dirt poor really is. But I also saw happiness and love amongst these people. One that I don’t see around me here in the middle of all of this decadence. Maybe I need to open my eyes.

I’m going to use my imagination and look to the best of the best of what God has given me in my life and move on.

Why not ~ it’s the better choice.

I think my mantra worked.