Photo-heart Connection May – Ordinary Miracles

Quote of the day: “I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don’t even know it.” ― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Spirals

Almost every month I make it a practice to gather my favorite photos from the month before and then pick one photo that speaks to what my heart has been learning during the month.

It’s time once again to review my photos and participate in Kat Sloma’s Photo-Heart Connection:

The photo above is from a series of photos I took this month, one each day, of an ordinary miracle. It comes from an exercise I gave the students in the first photography class I’ve taught. The class is called Photography as Spiritual Practice. I am loving teaching a class that speaks to how photography can be a spiritual practice, helping you to notice and see beauty and miracles. And I’m loving helping others find that spark of “Yes, I can do this!”

One of the assignments I gave my students was to pick a 30-day photography practice from a set of practices I’ve created for myself. Each practice focuses attention on something positive (beauty, wonder, discovery) and includes making a photo each day for 30 days.

I picked a practice to do along with my students—Seeing Ordinary Miracles. Every day for 30 days I’ve made a photo of something that is an ordinary miracle.

I haven’t done this particular photo practice before. Some days, when I’m feeling grumpy and tired it has been challenging. But most of the time I just look around and see so many things that I think are miracles.

Springtime in Minnesota is always a miracle in my book—especially this year when we were experiencing snow storms up to the first day of May.

When everything starts turning green and the wildflowers bloom I see miracles everywhere I look. A landscape that was grey and white turns into vivid green. Flowers fill the air with sweet scents. Kids emerge from their houses to play in back yards in the neighborhood.

The turtles in our pond have been basking on a log at the edge of the pond. Have you ever thought about how they survive the cold winters? I’ve read that some frogs actually become “frogcycles”—they freeze and then in the spring thaw and come to life again. I wonder if the same thing happens to turtles?

I plant a small container garden every spring. When I hold the tiny lettuce seed in my hand it fills me with amazement that it sprouts and becomes a living plant. Think about how this tiny package looks dead; it sits around waiting for the right conditions and when it finds them, it comes to life! It fills me with wonder.

Light and color and beauty are also miracles to me. Look at the beautiful spiral patterns of the shells in the photo above. How do creatures create such beauty?

Noticing the miraculous amongst the mundane activities of life brings me joy. My heart sings when I focus on all of the mysteries and wonders of life.