Lightkeeper's Journal

Fog

 

Photography by Curtis Beaird

Article by Norma Beaird

 

FOG...

Fog in the atmosphere.
Fog on the road.
Fog after the rain.
Fog on my path.
Fog in my mind.

No matter where the fog has manifest, prayer is the answer.

Fog, sunshine, rain, clouds, more fog and then blue skies.
This is basically life. One day, the skies are blue and the sun is shining. The next day it's cold, damp and gray. And then, you wake up to a very dense and unexpected fog.

Sometimes, our minds are clear with happy thoughts, forward movement, and looking for a bright future and everything that life may hold for us. The next day, we wake up in discouragement, pain and near hopelessness of thought.

Then sometimes, in the midst of the dense, overwhelming fog, where you can't see your way clear, the Lord sends a bright ray of light, both in the physical and the spiritual. Nature has a way of teaching us about the love and mercy of God.

LESSONS I've learned about FOG:

It doesn't last forever, sometimes it's mere hours.

The Lord is still there, even in the midst of the fog.

The sun's rays will peak through the fog and allow you to see your way clear, both physically and spiritually.

The dark gray fog will make the sunshine and blue skies seem much more beautiful.....because you've been in the darkness and now you see the light.

No matter the reason for your personal FOG, whether it's sickness, discouragement, depression, rocky relationships or unexpected problems on the job.... your answer is GOD. Only the Lord can cure what ails us both physically and spiritually. It's in the denseness of the fog that we learn our most valuable spiritual lessons.  Allow God to shine His light of love upon your situation. 

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Isaiah 9:2

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

John 12:35

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

All scriptures are King James Version.

Copyright 2022, Curtis and Norma Beaird.  All rights reserved. 

Just a Little Bit of Light

 

Tybee Lighthouse, doing what it does best......shine.

 

Photography by Curtis Beaird

 

Just a little bit of light will dispel the darkness.

A beacon of hope shines, even in a culture of chaos.  

                                                                                                                                        Norma Beaird

 

 

 

Copyright 2015, Curtis and Norma Beaird.  All rights reserved.   

Eleven Things My Yesterdays Taught Me

 

 

Article By:  Curtis Beaird

Photography By:  Norma W. Beaird

 

I kinda thought I would think on, muse on, wonder about and listen to my yesterdays and see what they had to say to me.  

So, here goes…...

1.   Life is about falling down and getting up.  It is about fouling up and waking up.  It is about fast starts, slow starts, false starts, re-starts and do-overs.

2.   Our greatest privilege:  The opportunity to confess, repent, receive forgiveness and begin again and again and again.  Guilt is a painful reminder that we are not in charge.  Follow the trail of guilt through the veil of tears and it will lead us to grace, forgiveness and the next second chance.  Confession, as they say, is good for the soul.  It sets us free to fly.

3.   Life is about showing up.  Someone, who knows who, said,

"Ninety percent of success is little more than showing up."  It's about asking, seeking, knocking. Lean on the gate just a little and it will open.  If it doesn't, it is either not a gate, could be a wall, or it is not your gate to lean on.  Pick the next one and lean on it.

Thankfully, our life will see more than one gate.  Those that are ours will open.  

Show up and lean into it.

4.   Jump and the net will appear.  Give up on security.  Security is an illusion.  Time and chance happens to everyone.  At least the writer of Ecclesiastes thought so.  Living life on the fly is the way life is lived.  A living faith has wings.

5.   If you do look for security, try God.  We don't know how anything is going to turn out, except where God is concerned.  Fear is useless.  Risk invigorates.  Love grounds us.   Loving God gives us our only solid place to stand.  Go ahead and take a chance.  Do a half gainer off the high board right smack into the middle of tomorrow.  Go for it.

6.  Dwelling on the past will turn you into a pillar of salt.  Losing yourself in woulda, shoulda or coulda, means just that, losing yourself.  It will stop you cold.  It will reduce your soul to a mush of misgivings, doubts, and a long string of tiresome second guesses and self-castigation. That, when it is not exhausting, is boring.  “Forgetting those things which have gone before, I press on…”   A bad memory can serve our future well.

7.   Use depression wisely.  Surprise, surprise.  In the economy of God, even depression has its purposes.  The Bible talks about the "treasures of darkness”.  Obviously, you have to go there to find those treasures.  Never fear things out of our control.  Things in our control that we manage poorly; or plain fatigue, will now and then plop us down in the middle of the valley of the shadow.

 

Isaiah 45: 2 - 3

²  I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

³  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

A couple of questions.  Will we be like the Psalmist and walk through the valley fearing no evil?   Will we squint just a little and see through that scowling evil and find the greatest treasure in that dank darkness, that "Thou art with me”? (Psalm 23)

Makes no difference what the dark feels like.  While there, we may feel like a whipped pup or an abandoned child.  We may feel lost, a loser, confused….. ..or just not care.   Not caring can be the worst.  It is then that we are willing to lose ourselves for nothing.

Thankfully, feelings are just feelings.  In the extreme, except in the case of love, they seldom define the way things are.  As far as the valley of the shadow is concerned, our fearful feelings never tell us the truth.  The truth is.......God is there.   We are not alone.

The dark is real.  Evil is our threat.  Our feelings distract us from finding the treasure.  

“Thou art with me.  Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  My cup runs over."  

All of that and more while we are deep in the valley of the shadow.

Go ahead and take a step.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Use depression wisely.  It can lead you to the treasures of darkness.   “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.  And, I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

8.  We lose in order to find.  Oops, I fumbled the ball.  Oops, I don't have the ball any more.  I lost it. Good.  Now you have a chance to seek and find what was intended for you all along…...your very own life.  "If you lose your life for my sake you shall find it."   Oops, I fumbled the ball.   Good. Another chance.

9.  We can’t get it right, but we can try again.  Faith includes trial and error, a good bit of experimentation and a dollop of adventure.  Noah's ark building, Abraham's leave-taking, Moses’ fire-watching and voice-hearing all involved faith.  Remember Moses?  Following a massive foul-up in the small matter of the killing of an Egyptian, he found himself on the backside of Median turning aside to see a bush that burned and was not consumed. 

While staring at the flames and the bush that wouldn't go away, a voice was heard. "Moses!"  Unmistakable, loud and clear, it was his name.  The specifics of his calling followed.  His excuses followed the call.   Faith took over.  And, Moses in shorter order than he ever intended, ever expected or even wanted, was on his way to trying again.

Getting it right must not be the requirement.  Trying must be the expectation.  The calling moves us to it.  The calling frees us for it.  Try again.

10.  Well, like I said at the top of the page, best I can tell, life is about falling down and getting up.  It is about messing up and waking up.  It is about fast starts, slow starts, false starts, re-starts and do-overs.       

Thankfully, it ain't ever finished.  It's better than you expected and can and usually will become something other than what you planned.  

Life is not a problem to be solved.  Life is intended to be lived.

Living is about forgetting about the pot of gold and falling in love with the rainbow.  God is good. 

Life is.....well..…life.

11.   There is no way to get ahead or fall behind.  Plans are great until they change or get wrecked.

In the economy of God, wrecked plans fit in.  

At least Paul thought so.  "All things work together for good..."   Plans have a way of ending abruptly and permanently.  We don't need a nip, a tuck or a plan.  We need a faith the size of a grain of mustard seed.  We need the faith that is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” 

Faith alive replaces strategic certainty with the risk of forward movement.  Try.

 

Romans 8:28 (King James Version)

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

Philippians 3: 13 - 14 (King James Version)

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Copyright 2012, Curtis Beaird.  All rights reserved. 

 

 

What To Do.....When You Don't Like Anything

Article and Photography By:  Curtis Beaird

 

You don't have to listen close to hear that the glass is half-empty and about to be drained.  Doom is pronounced on every hand.  The dreary end is cited as an accomplished fact, even by those who once thought there was a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. 

And we wonder.  What shall we do?  Who shall we listen to?

The forward look is now controlled by the assumption that the bottom is about to drop out.  Anticipation has turned to dread.  Tomorrow is no longer welcomed.  Its arrival creates anxiety, worry and doubt.  How many of us are tired, even before we start the day?

The possibility of a bright future is automatically exchanged for a view of the abyss. Exhaustion is our reward.

And we wonder.  What shall we do?   Who shall we listen to?

Frowns are the face of choice today.  Our sense of humor has been exchanged for sarcastic barbs. Criticism powers most, if not all, observation.  Exposing the presumed and assumed ugly has been raised to an art form.  Exploring the seedy and demeaning is the path of choice.  Tabloid is relished. Honorable has been forgotten.  Anticipation is nowhere to be found, unless it is the anticipation of the next wrong thing.  We are sad.

And we wonder.  What shall we do?   Who shall we listen too?

Everyone waits for the other shoe to drop. It, whatever it is, is never right.  Whatever "they" are doing is considered wrong.

Choose any subject, even the subject of the need for rain, and you will find an instant difference of opinion.  "Push back", as it is called today.  Argument is the communication of choice.  We prefer anger to vision.  We choose fear over courage.  We indulge in preplanned disappointment rather than seek opportunity for creative risk-taking.  We quit before we start or add the burden of denial to any new effort or project.  “I really don't think this will work.  But, I'll do it anyway."

And we wonder.  What shall we do?   Who shall we listen to?

To accomplish, should we bring ourselves to the point of actually trying, requires the double expenditure of energy.  First, the energy spent to overcome our negative outlook, then the energy necessary to accomplish the goal.  Our creativity is consumed in wasted effort to resist our own initiative.

And we wonder.  Is there a source of motivation deeper than the froth of hype, and more lasting than the adrenaline rush of a moment of thrill?

Is it possible?   Can we escape the way of insanity?   Can we escape the downward pull of gloom? Can we escape the gravity of the perpetually grim?  Can we find our way into a creative future?

All of this has been faced before.  All of these questions have been answered by one man in a single sentence.   

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”   Philippians 4:13 

That one decision enabled the Apostle Paul to change his world and mark the future for almost 2000 years.

We no longer need to wonder........  What shall we do?   Who shall we listen to?

 But, will we?

 

Copyright 2012, Curtis Beaird.  All rights reserved.

Tears and Trauma

 

 

Article By:  Curtis Beaird

Photography By:  Norma W. Beaird

 

It is an easy thing to list the fears and failings, the mistakes and disasters of every day.  Tsunamis and bank failures, kidnappings and government corruption have become the stuff of our daily life.  Turning first to the obituaries and police blotter are old habits for more than a few.  Our color TV’s offer us a ringside seat at a safe distance to view mudslides and human suffering as though it were a spectator sport.

But, is there a more excellent way?  Is there more do to with our minutes, hours, days, weeks and our life than watch the parade of sorrow? Is there something better to do with our energy than fight the sneaky little fear in the back of our mind, "What if that happens to me?"   Is there something more to do with ourselves than complain, and call it living, when by fits and starts we spend ourselves in a cloud of nostalgia, longing for a day lost and long gone?

Nope, there isn't.  That's the best we've got.  Tears and trauma and more of the same are on the way.  Stay tuned, it only gets worse.  "Those poor people, and how long will it be before it's my turn?" 

You got it right; the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.  The glass is half empty.  It will never be the same.  I sure wish it was like it used to be.   And, on and on and on, all the way down into the bottom of the dark valley.

You might believe in darkness, but the Apostle Paul believed in the light.  "...forgetting those things which have gone before, I press on toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.”   Paul had better things to do than complain and live in fear. He apparently believed that there was no way to modulate the human voice in such a way as to make a whine acceptable to God.

So, a man whose days knew whipping, stoning, imprisonment and the fear of being hunted, offers us his counsel to have a bad memory.  “Forgetting those things which have gone before.”  That’s what the man said - Forget.   Instead of Paul locking himself into the bad bind of regret and grief or the pathetic sticky goo of nostalgia, he chose to look toward the better day in Christ's high calling.  

Let's face it.  There are many voices out there.  Most would gladly take us down.   Why not listen to the Voice that would guide us toward the light and the better way?  Listen for the high calling of Christ.

 

Philippians 3: 13 - 14

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

 

Copyright 2011, Curtis Beaird.  All rights reserved.