A Conscious Decision

Picture by Elaine DeBaucher

Matt. 15:17-18 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

On a daily basis I wake and find that I have to make a conscious decision of doing right instead of wrong, being good instead of bad, listen without jumping in and breaking the train of thought that goes into making a conscious decision.

Here lately I’ve been feeling like I’m browsing the streets at Mardis Gras. I’m wandering around people I’ve known for years but only from a virtual standpoint and they are wearing lavish masks. They are wearing make up, their hair is adorned in barrettes and baubles and beads are slung around their necks and the smile, they carry an eerie smile.

Why is it an eerie smile? Because when the mask is lowered, the windows are opened and you glance at their eyes, the doorway to the soul, and you glimpse the true them that they were hiding.

What I’m saying is that some people think of the Mardi Gras as a lifetime event carrying the mask with them wherever they go. That is all many people get a chance to see. They like what they see, the cloaked character is then happy being disguised this way because he/she is liked and almost worshiped.

We’re a people who accept the masks, make light of it and clings to whatever is spewed forth from the mask, never doubting the wearer. But I myself oftentimes see under the mask and all that is hidden and sometimes it scares me immensely because I too at one time was fooled by the mask wearers. Under the mask isn’t so pretty.

As a Christian, we make the conscious decision to not lie, cheat, steal or hide behind a mask. There are some who call themselves Christians and make a conscious decision to lie, cheat, steal and hide behind the mask, they’re happy there; in that place of fooling the onlookers. People are deluded and that makes the mask wearer happy. Then there are non-Christians who could care less what conscious decisions they make.

Recently I made the conscious decision to get back into writing. Not on my blog necessarily but writing and honing a craft that has been trying to elude me. I made the conscious decision to focus on the wrong things like facebook and whatnot and now it’s time for me to slap myself upside the head and regroup.

It’s not as if I have an amazing following or anything, nobody follows a non-mask wearer. They’re looking for fun, beads, excitement and a parade of activity. Me, I just spit out the truth; I don’t hide no matter how ugly the truth is to look at. Pride will be the death of many.

We live in a country that has a bountiful stock of food. How is it that a parent is proud when their child comes home happy with a kill of squirrel, deer or rabbit? How are people reveling in committing illegal acts? No matter how big or small, killing is killing, illegal is illegal; there’s no way to sugarcoat a conscious decision to make you feel better about yourself.

I have to go and reflect on what this world is coming to and what people accept as the norm. I have REAL issues to sort through and no longer will my blog be a place for my exposure of me. Just after two weeks of The Personal Essay course I’ve learned the difference between personal and private essay writing.

I am making a conscious decision to focus on my family, my faith and ME. Have an abundant Christmas full of love and beauty and may the Light of the Lord be with you all. Godspeed!

1 Kings 8:61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

Photoshop - Believing is Seeing

Have you ever seen a photoshop picture? They can be pretty realistic can’t they? 

I was thinking about writing and how we embellish the truth, make up stories, color it with vivid imagination and call it fiction.

How come people can take beautiful pictures and get away without telling others that the photo is photoshopped? Is photoshopped even a word?

What IS photoshop?

“Photoshop is the leading digital image editing application for the Internet, print, and other new media disciplines. It is embraced by millions of graphic artists, print designers, visual communicators, and regular people like you. It's likely that nearly every picture you've seen (such as posters, book covers, magazine pictures, and brochures) has either been created or edited by Photoshop. The powerful tools used to enhance and edit these pictures are also capable for use in the digital world including the infinite possibilities of the Internet.”

With today’s technology, there are numerous things you can do with photoshop. I’ve seen pics of elephants walking on water, I’ve seen clouds turned into a monster storm-looking thunderous cloudburst, I’ve even seen Jesus in toast, clouds, trees, you name it, all thanks to the artists who can work photoshop.

If a writer took someone’s work and twisted it, and worked it into a totally different story, I do believe a lawsuit would ensue. But with pictures, it seems the norm to take someone’s picture and embellish it to their liking, put a caption on it, and maybe the original photographer doesn’t even recognize the pic as his/her own!

Now I’m not talking about someone re-inventing the Cinderella story, I think every writer has dappled with that tale as well as Snow White and many other fairytale's passed down through time. But when I see Lord of the Rings taken and re-invented into a “similar” story, boy it grates on my nerves!

We’re writer’s and we have our very own creative genius in our brains. We can create stories that might be general matches to other stories like say vampire stories. They should and WILL all be different from what is on the shelves now.

I’m so glad that photshop hasn’t found a way to doctor MY work, although, sometimes it does look like it needs a doctor. I’m just saying, as a photographer, a person works their tail off to capture beauty, the same goes for writer’s , we work very hard at our words so that we capture the beauty to tell a riveting story. A doctored pic to me says the photographer is too lazy to capture the REAL beauty and has to embellish it to make it shine.

If you’re a writer, you will not settle for anything less! You will make your work stand out and preferably stand alone. Sure magazines abuse airbrush, novel covers need a tricky photo to grab you, but writer’s? They walk along with only the English language (or whatever you speak) to carry their words.

Don’t photoshop your writing. Remember, you’re an artist of a different caliber. No technology is going to assist you in making it better. Use your talent accompanied with your mind to airbrush and dazzle, with WORDS!

Poetry Sunday ~ I Pray

Ex.32: Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

***
I Pray

why are they so caught up
why does no one care
why do they just assume
that I’ll always be there.

why are they all laughing
why do they pass by
why do all, turn their heads
when seeing someone cry?

why the tunnel vision
why am I left alone
why does no one reach out
by way of telephone?

They text their friends
they buy their things
they talk with others
like joy it brings.

they wear false faces
for all to see
yet hide themselves
from lil ol me.

but it’s okay
these tears I cry
will bounce to heaven
without a sigh.

God will hold
my hand and face
spread His love
throughout the place.

Christmas will not crumble
all because of them
I’ve lined all my doorways
with loving cherubim!

Exodus 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.