1/365 Purpose

"Purpose"

We still receive an actual newspaper at our house.  Mornings just wouldn't seem right without that trek down the from sidewalk to gather up the Dallas Morning News before sitting down at the table with a cup of coffee and a bowl of yogurt or oatmeal.  Reading the paper before heading to school in the mornings gives us at least a sense of what is going on in the world before we walk head-on out into it.  And on days when I am not up to facing the ugliness of life around me, I ignore the headlines and listen as Weber reads me the comics.

In this morning's edition of Dear Abby (Yes, I read Dear Abby almost every day.), rather than responding to the dilemmas of specific readers, "Abby" offers two pieces of advice that speak to all of as we begin the new year.  The first is from the credo of Al-Anon and the second is from the prayer attributed to St. Francis.  The entire article can be found here.

As a Franciscan tertiary, this prayer attributed to St. Francis speaks to me at a deep level, despite the fact that it is often over- and mis-used.  It describes the person that I so desire to be.  So today, a day on which we find ourselves determined to make this a good year by committing to promises and resolutions, what better way to remind myself that I do strive to be an instrument of peace and a sower of love, pardon, hope, faith, light and joy than for these words to be my  first image of Capture Your 365, the 2013 edition.

January 1, 2013

So here we are, the beginning of another new year.  January 1st brings with it that clean slate kind of feeling - like fresh sheets, an empty laundry basket, a newly weeded garden, a freshly fallen snow.  Or, if you are a cat, a litter box that has been completely dumped and changed rather than just scooped.  The obvious question here is, how do these feelings translate into a meaningful life during the rest of 2013?

Like most of us, I could resolve to lose weight, eat better, sleep more in the new year, but it seems easier to say that I plan to live a more intentional and purposeful life.  What does that look like?  I don’e really know, exactly.  What I do know is that I plan to be open to life’s possibilities, whatever they may or may not be. 

By making myself open to possibilities in 2012, the past year revealed how important photography as a way of personal expression is to me.  To those of you who walked with me through the 100 days of Visual Cents, I appreciate your support.  I learned so much during that project about photography, myself and other people.  It was truly a life altering endeavor.

As I finished that project, I discovered an online community whose purpose is to support its members as they undertake the goal of a picture a day for an entire year.  I have decided to commit to this for 2013.  Unlike with Visual Cents, where I intentionally did not write anything to accompany the photographs, I plan to write about my Capture Your 365 photos - at least sometimes.  These photos come with the same disclaimers that accompanied my Visual Cents photos, they will not all be good but they might be; they will not all be meaningful, but they might be; they will not all be technically correct, but they might be.  What I can guarantee is that they will reflect a part of me.  They will remind me where I was, what I was doing and what was in my heart and mind on any given day during the year 2013.

I invite you to journey with me through Capture Your 365, the 2013 edition.  As always, I appreciate comments, constructive criticism and questions.

I hope that each of you finds a sense of peace and purpose as we greet this new year.