Eyes are a window to the soul, sometimes I just write. Like today I planned to write one sentence for a social media post and I damn near wrote a dissertation for a doctorate in philosophy (Joke), and a slight kind but direct tangent.
Portrait Photography is timeless
A candid shot without a stranger’s permission (illegal in Philippines) or a planned shot with a subject, I love the integrity of the realness. I love shooting people who feel special because I’m taking the time to give them attention. They feel beautiful and it brings me so much joy watching their joyful yet reluctantly confident smile as I encourage them to be themselves. People want to feel beautiful and my expensive cameras and solid reputation lend a hand to people’s openness for me to shoot them. Along with experience and some edits it’s such a reward to give pictures back to my friends, family or a random acquaintance or casual friend, minutes later I find their social media profile picture has changed.
A self-pro-claimed philosopher
As a self-pro-claimed philosopher, sometimes I stare in the eyes of my subjects as I edit and wonder what’s really deep down inside of their souls and minds, what are their lives like and what is their story. No one knows the true heart of a man or woman, or how deep wounds go from their past. Sometimes the ones that hurt are never aware of it, having past wounds that never healed; they forget about things that happened, or move forward without dealing with it.
“The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
Everyone Has Secrets
Everyone has secrets and some people are a deep ocean of mysteries. Everyone has things they’ve never told anyone and not even yourself can have a perfectly clear perspective of who you really are. That’s why chasing humility is more precious than gold. What makes people tick? Everyone is wired differently, given Divine gifts and abilities uniquely designed for each person. Love languages drive our romantic expressions. Trauma hinders are ability to give and receive consistent and healthy relationship connections.
We all respond differently to circumstances
What do we do when we feel shame, loss, rejection, ect? Like Adam and Eve in the garden, they felt shame and they hid. God called to them and asked, “why are you hiding?” Adam replied, “we’re naked and felt shame.” God said, “how did you know you were naked? Did you eat from the tree I commanded you to stay away from?” Sometimes with our pain we feel naked, alone and ashamed. What happened next?
Adam blamed Eve
We blame others for what we do, how we feel or how we respond to circumstances. When in fact, even though our reactions to circumstances can be a product of brokenness, it’s our own choices that leave us hurting more in the end. One trauma can lead to years of our own bad choices, if in fact one never deals with their trauma and never finds restoration. We hide these days, in co-dependent relationships, work, extremist lifestyles, alcohol, social affirmation or other forms of addiction like cell phones and social media. This might be called, delusional distractions. Social media and smart phones are by far the most extreme insidious object in the history of the world. Before Adam and Eve got involved in eating from the Tree of Knowledge, she was deceived and tempted by a serpent according to the Bible.
Tree of knowledge
The reason God placed the “Tree of Knowledge” where they lived was so that they can choose Him. Before that man/woman had no knowledge of pain, loss or sin. Sin means to miss the mark. God gave angels freewill too. God can never and will never tempt us but He gives us our own freewill. The serpent who deceived and tempted Eve was once the most beautiful angel in Heaven. Arrogance got the best of him and he parted ways with God and became the greatest mastermind of all time to destroy lives, with more skill, intellect, and experience spanning since the beginning of time with the sole purpose to fuck up our life, relationships and mostly your relationship with God. Satan wants to separate you from the best people God has for you to be in your life & isolate you.
Eve compared herself to God
The serpent said, if you eat this you’ll will be like God. Eve compared herself with God. Which brings me to my next point, you have no right or reason to compare yourself with others. There’s, 2 main reasons why, one, you don’t truly know their personal life or what’s inside their hearts, and inner struggles or secrete pain. Two, you’ll never be satisfied with who you are.
The number one human desire is to be accepted
The number one human desire is to be accepted. So, love each other. But first, understand the true meaning of Love. God was here before everything and created everything for us to marvel at His Incredibly intricate complex intelligent design. He created everything for us and created us to have a relationship with Him above all things and then the rest like family and friends.
The Invisible qualities of God are clearly seen through His creation. His eternal power, Divine nature; therefore men have no excuse for not knowing Him.
Romans 1:20
The Bible says, Love is God, God is Love
The Bible says, Love is God, God is Love, Love cannot be without God and God can’t be without Love. Since God is Love and Love is God that means Love only came from Him. Since we were all uniquely created, woven together in our mother’s wombs our life’s purpose is to love. There is a purpose to your birth, even if your parents never wanted or planned you.
Every good and perfect comes from the Father above
James1:1
Love is helping others get closer to God
Love is helping others get closer to God. If you do not help the people in your life get closer to God you do not Love them. One thing to consider, Love isn’t all hearts and flowers. Jesus loved everyone, yet He flipped over tables in the synagogue yelling insults while using a whip to drive them out. Jesus always loved and never sinned. If we are called to be Christ like what does that tell us? As we grow and mature, we learn to be wise and clear headed. With discernment we know the difference between righteous anger and emotions. With wisdom we know when the time is right to be verbally harsh, brash, articulately direct or even angry. Anger is an emotion, it’s how we manage our anger that matters.
We were made in his image
We were made in His image, so all our emotions are the same as His. There’s a time & a place for everything, so managing your emotions and reactions is the hard part. God gets angry therefore it is not a sin to get angry if managed right and at the right time. Ask yourself, why am I angry? How you handle your emotions makes a world of difference. You were made in His image, not yours. Jesus was also a master of all love languages and spiritual gifts, as humans we only excel at one or two, sometimes three. Some people are gifted with mercy and compassion and are gentle and kind. Natural born leaders on the other hand can be direct and harsh, often offending people who are gifted with compassion. Leaders need to mature in a way to be diplomatic and adapt to meet the needs of others around them.
The compassionately gifted
The Compassionately gifted, with maturity and wisdom will learn to not be so sensitive, don’t take things personally and understand we all serve different purposes and our personalities fit how God made us. The Bible say’s the church is a group of people. “Where two or more are gathered together I will be in the midst of you.” That is church. It is not a temple or a building Biblically. The church is also referred to as the body of Christ, the Bible also says sense we are the body of Christ, the hand doesn’t say to the foot I don’t need you. No, we need all our parts to work well together to Love God, family, friends and the world. So, each one of our gifts are equally important. Then our traumas reshape and distort what God made and our faith and pursuing God helps us heal as He guides our path, blesses our lives and makes us whole again.
Forgive, heal and become smarter
I look at these pictures at times with a deep reverent love for these people and hope the best for their lives. Life is hard at times, but in the end of that painful shit journey, when it’s over the goal should be to learn, forgive, heal and become smarter, wiser, more mature and more well-rounded, with a tighter group of friends and closer relationships with fewer people. In my opinion, you cannot do anything right without God directing your path.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him “and He’ll make your path straight”
Proverbs 3
Always remember
We all fall short, the wages of sin is death, and every time we sin something dies. Opportunities, relationships, but most importantly God’s blessing which drives everything good in the universe. Trauma will impact the way you respond to circumstances. God can restore brokenness completely. People are beautiful, even most of the ugly ones. Most people have good in them, few are lost causes. I do believe there are good people out there who are honest, hard-working and have never been severe victims or predators. I think those types are becoming fewer and fewer.
Ask yourself this question
Ask yourself this question, if you were utterly naked and alone but physically comfortable, would you be at peace with who you are? Or if you were in a room alone and your true character was completely exposed on a screen, would you be okay inviting people in? Let’s take it up another notch, you’re alone in a room and all your, pain, heartache, lies and every horrible past deeds you’ve committed to others were exposed on a big screen tv would you be okay inviting people in to watch? Love transforms and God transforms us from the inside out. To fear the Lord is the Beginning of wisdom.
” Remember to Love. Love is a Verb. Love is Action. Sometimes Love Hurts. We need Love. “
If you have enjoyed this read, take a look at my other articles.