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.   

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.