Great Heron with nesting material

The world applauds a person for being over committed. A person who is busy with much to do is looked upon as a success. My point of view is different. I find the most busiest people never take the time to know themselves, let alone anyone else. Their relationships with friends and family take a backseat and suffer greatly. I call it the art of deception. It is a method designed to destroy life. I have first hand experience with this type of living. As a young aggressive determined woman with a young child I went at life as though it was my final calling. Working long dreadful hours and having no time for my young daughter.

Luckily I had a wonderful mother that saw the need to step in and fill my shoes, helping to raise her while I was off discovering and trying to conquer the world. My marriage had crumbled after eight miserable years and I knew I had to take the bull by the horn and make the most of life. My photography was my passion and I wanted to be the best. I soon found myself in the ranks of some of the finest. Shooting fashion. I thought I had made it but soon realized I had stumbled into a brutal world of non-caring people. It was business. I was giving all of myself and it was not giving back. I was climbing the latter of success no doubt, but as you have heard the old saying, make sure your ladder of success is leaning against the right building.

I discovered at the end of my experience with what I thought was going to be a creative venture was actually leaving me unfulfilled and bitter.

Totally worn-out and unhappy I left this chaotic world and headed home. Only to find my little girl was not so little anymore. She was growing into a beautiful young girl and was harboring a bit of resentment that I was not always around. My thinking of becoming a world famous fashion photographer (not what I started out to be) would give me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in my life and give my daughter a great start in life with the amount of money I could make. What I discovered was my passion had turned into someone else’s mission and it was not about my creativity. I also learned that one of the most precious treasures in my life that God himself had given me was not being fed regularly by me investing time into her.

It is possible to live with peace and joy in our lives. There is a way to do this. When we realize we have limits and cannot do everything and only make the choices of what is most important we can increase our level of peace. Without Peace we live frustrated lives.

Fast forward to now. In the last twelve plus years as a web developer I have allowed that same frustration to creep into my life. It is so easy to loose balance. It requires making adjustments on a day to day basis. I started to feel the uneasiness and the struggle while attempting to do more projects. I soon realized it was time to take out the pruning shears again and start cutting things from my life. I did this through prayer. Most times what we think is right for us is not what God has in mind for our lives at all and the best way to find out is to spend time in prayer and let him lead our lives. The outcome is much better than me taking control and figuring it out alone.

Slowly but surely I see signs of God working.

Now with much peace I move towards a most desired phase in my life. Saving room for myself and my two beautiful young granddaughters. Praying that history does not repeat itself and they find some value in their life through mine.

“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.”

~ Ansel Adams