Of Course...

The course of life travels not a straight line. Why is this so? The answer is surprisingly simple. The destination is meaningless without the journey; for the journey is filled with opportunities to understand the path, see it, for such paths are rarely well marked if true.

If we traveled from here to there directly, the journey is hollow, and the path dangerous. Seems a bit backwards doesn't it?

I've watched Wolf's Rain again. So many things in there ring true inside me. True nobility hunted for its own sake. Perhaps humans fear looking into a perfect mirror, one that shows how far they've fallen. So many I know have taken the energy and efforts of others, their blood, and have tried to open their own Paradise, remaking the world to the vision they hold of themselves. Arrogance.

Can Paradise belong to those who have fallen? What rights do they have to have a stranglehold on the happiness and well-being of others? That is no Paradise, it's an abomination. Then why do so many seek it? Again, a simple answer, power. People so need to be right and the ultimate power, they need to be gods, so much so they try to replace God with themselves.

People have tried to encourage me to seek God and his glory, insisting that their way is the only way to do so. I'm told that I can seek balance and peace, but I can only do so or find it within the confines of their cage, my freedom at the end of a leash. I seek connection and they offer bondage, while God himself offers a very different picture.

It's funny what pictures we see in the world, and how we see things. I've seen the world dying and I've seen the beauty in my life being stripped away. I seek my connections with God and nature through my photography, but I'm told that while I may take good pictures, it's not enough or what God wants of me.

Perhaps in my own arrogance I take pictures of wonders and beauty in an effort to replace the beauty I've lost. Maybe that's why the animals that cross my path keep looking into my eyes and standing beside me, they sense the story in my eyes and try to offer comfort to my heart by lending me theirs.

At least in my journey, I’ve met some friends along the way.