picture winter: day 2: looking out: a breath of fresh air {or more appropriately titled, "strength? really? that is my word for 2011? HA!!"}

okay, i know this is a strange post title. if this day had gone how i wanted it to, the title would have been something like "strength" or "my new word for 2011".

well, with a very anticlimactic and feeble voice, i very ironically share {as promised} that my word for 2011 is strength. and i also say, oddly, i have anything but, on this day. it has been a very draining, discouraging, difficult day... in a lot of ways. physically. emotionally. even spiritually. i had much to say on the subject of strength today. but, i find i have no... well, you know.

but that is okay, because it is not the word i chose for this year as if to say, "going into 2011, i have strength!" it was not even my word so i could say, "i WILL be strong this year!" it is the word i chose because i realize how much i lack it in so many areas of my life and how, more than anything else, i want it to be a goal of mine this year... especially because i KNOW i am going to need it.

our arms get stronger when we work out. and in the same way, i know we need to exercise all the muscles of life in order to make them stronger. and it is my goal to attain that strength. but i also aim to do more asking for strength when i can't attain it myself... when i have none.

i am certain there will be days ahead when i will need to pray similarly to how david did in the psalms... "my soul is weary with sorrow: strengthen me according to your word." {psalm 119:28}

not just in days ahead. i could pray that today. i did pray that {in my own words} many times over the course of my pregnancy so far. but this year, i want to really focus on crying out for strength from God almighty when i can't find the strength in myself. and i want to look back on 2011 and be able to pray as david did, "in the day that i called, you answered me. you encouraged me with strength in my soul." {psalm 138:3}

i had SO MUCH more to write on the subject, but i plan to wait until i am a little stronger to do so... a little less tired and discouraged and disappointed.

instead, i will post my second submission for the "picture winter" workshop that i am currently participating in. today, we were prompted to go outside and brave the elements and "look out"... to capture a breath of fresh air. oh, that was gonna be a tough assignment for me! it is very bitter cold and windy here today. and not only that, but all the snow is gone because of a warm-up we had a few days ago that melted it all. i really thought i was going to have a hard time finding something "pretty" to photograph. b. and i walked for less than twenty minutes. it was just too cold, even as bundled up as we were. it's funny, but the shot i got is just down the street from me... at the corner, looking down the street that crosses ours. i did not need to go far. oh!... it was a breath of fresh air, alright! very BRISK air!

i had to do some extra-special processing to make this bleak winter photo look less than bleak. it was very bright out, so i purposely let the shot be over-exposed. then i did some edge burning and blurring for a more vintage effect.

not exactly the pretty picture of winter i would have liked, but there will be more time for those. today, it's gonna have to be a bleak photo. and somehow, it goes with the mood of the day. but just like outside, things will get brighter inside, too. another day. a good night of sleep. a little perspective. some prayer time of giving to God what i can not control. i'll be bright as the freshly fallen snow in due time.

and then i'll be back to share a little more on strength... and from a brighter vantage point, i'm sure.