One thing I am always looking for in my photos is connection: connection between me and the subject, a connection between subjects, or connection between the subject and a visible object (like a toy). Those are the images that make an impact. Whether we realize it or not, it’s that connection that draws us in. The connection is what allows us to connect to the photo itself.
As humans, we are made to connect to… something. We are designed to be attached, to belong, to hold, to love, to own. God created us to relate to one another, but most importantly to him.
Unfortunately our lives get very busy. We try to stay connected through emails and Facebook, but these are such poor subtitutes. They trick us into thinking we are connected, but in reality we are only in contact. There is a big difference between contact and connection. The former involves our head, the latter our heart.
There is something about the meeting of eyes, the touch of a hand, the sound of someone’s laughter or the pause in a conversation that adds depth and meaning. Emoticon’s, LOL’s and “pokes” just can’t compare.
I am craving more down-to-earth, real life connection. Last night I told my husband, “I need to talk to you more.” I wasn’t talking about the mode of conversation where we trade information and organize our day-to-day life. I was talking about the lazy, relaxed murmurs that happen on an overstuffed couch, where there are no official topics or agendas and we begin to explore the things that fill our dreams and the way our hearts work. Those are the kind of talks that leave us fulfilled, happy…. and feeling wonderfully connected. If I haven’t been talking to Eric enough this way, it has been my fault for not making the time. No more… I am going to start making the time, even if it means leaving a few loose ends around the house or losing fifteen minutes of sleep.
I am craving that connection with my friends, too. There have been too many emails and not enough hugs. There have been too many “we’ll get together soon”s and not enough “it’s so good to see you”s. I need more happy tears and moments of gasping for breath from laughing so hard. I need a few more late nights and shopping days. I miss those days of sitting around on the floor in prayer with my sisters-in-Christ, lifting up our jobs, our families, our hearts and each other to the Father who knows us more intimately than we will ever know each other, and that is pretty tight. We have lost of lot of that between our careers and our sweet babies. Not that there is anything wrong with those things, but it’s important to set aside time to get connected again. We need each other. We’re kidding ourselves if we don’t believe that.
I am craving connection with my heavenly Father, too. So I have been putting down some hobbies and spending that time pouring through a few good books, but mainly ONE. I have been turning off the radio in my mom-van and speaking aloud with the One who cares, who loves me unconditionally, who is GOOD unconditionally. God is good, no matter what is going on in my life, because life is a cross-stitch and we are looking up from the bottom at the messy, tangled knots of thread. God sees us from heaven as a beautifully woven piece of art, as the completed picture. He is sovereign over all.
