They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I don’t have any pictures from today so, picture this…
A warm yet still early spring day. The sun finally deciding to show itself after months of clouds and dreary wind. That outer layer can slide off your shoulders, and the breeze somehow just feeds your soul. You breathe deep and know spring is here.
The Black Sea, not so black but vibrant blue with waves crashing upon a brown sandy beach. Seagulls flying and diving all around. You can smell the sweet, salty air- a hint of fish. The kind of smell you taste, and you know you’re by the sea and life gets a little bit easier.
We walked along the shore to an old boat pier. It looks to have been out of use for several boating seasons, rather rusted over, decaying and pieces missing all along the breakers. A sight for sore eyes, but nonetheless we decided it was the perfect place to spend some team time.
We talked in the sunshine, we played a roaring game of “orange toss”- invented by our ever clever squadmate Jake, we dipped our toes in the very cold sea and we laughed and proudly fit the stereotype using our “loud American” voices for all to hear.
Then we stopped to sit and soak in the sun on the pier with Jesus.
Today was a normal kind of day. We do many things on the World Race, but one of the most frequent things is finding “something to do”. As busy as we can be, there is ample amounts of free time that creeps into our lives, and spending time together and with The Lord becomes a ministry in itself. So we found ourselves scattered in the midst of Bulgarians enjoying the sunshine as well.
I love people watching, so my first instinct was to observe the habitat of culture I’ve been thrust into for the month- Bulgaria at it’s finest.
This is what I saw.
I saw a group of friends eating lunch together overlooking the water. I saw couples, walking hand in hand enjoying the sunshine. I saw a man walking his dog while smoking a cigarette. I saw a group of girls sitting on the pier taking pictures on their phones of each other, each posing and not smiling- the ever so serious “myspace” selfies that will never go away. I saw two men fishing. I saw an old man who rode his bicycle and posted up to catch some zzz’s. I saw a sweet older woman reading a book. I could see the beach from where I sat, people playing with dogs, playing with frisbees, playing with children and couples cuddling.
I looked up in the sky and saw the birds, flying and circling overhead. I saw the glorious mountains in the background, fading into the sky so majestic and hazy. I saw ships on the horizon, slow moving giants on a blue canvas. I looked under my feet dangling over the pier and saw the waves crashing. I saw fish swimming, tiny minnows too small to notice without actually looking. I saw barnacles, seaweeds and the tiniest jellyfish I’ve ever seen!
I saw life.
I wanted to take a picture, to capture the vibrance of what I was taking in. I went to grab my camera, but the more I looked I couldn’t find a good shot worty of an instagram post (the status quo). Through the lens I couldn’t see anything worth photographing. Instead, I saw the old rusty pier. I saw the dirt and trash scattered everywhere. I saw people too spread apart to capture all together. I saw plastic bags, backpacks, sunglasses, un-model-like postures, neither hipster nor trendy fashions and the dingy, green-hued water. All grey, or brown, or rusted, or slimy green. Somehow, through the lens it all looked so… ordinary.
A picture would not do it justice. All a camera would capture is the bare bones of life. The snapshot without the beauty of LIFE behind it just comes out like a crappy photograph. It’s amazing, what my eyes can take in through a single blink are the same images I would have to work really hard at capturing on film. Editing, cropping, exposures, saturation, filters upon vibrant color filters could never capture things like laughter, smiling wrinkles, voices lost in deep conversation or the visible love between friends and family on the first sunny day at the beach.
God is a beautiful creator, and He alone creates the most beautiful things out of the most ordinary of situations. Any one passing by could have created a beautiful photograph out of today, but a camera alone doesn’t capture the Bulgarian life swirling around us. There is such beauty in the ordinary, the every day, simple moments of life. Lunch breaks with a friend, reading a book in the sunshine, snuggling on the beach or having a coke on the old rusted pier- these moments are precious gifts in the midst of our lives. Only those who stop to look, to listen and to really see them can find the beauty worth living our plain, old, normal and ordinary lives.
So I’m going to live life with #nofilter. Beauty in the ordinary.
