I put together a slide show last night for a Christmas Feast we had at our church.
This photo was last.
We were celebrating how God can show up anywhere at any time, sometimes when we least expect it. I shared some photo images of where I had journeyed, and how I suddenly came across a beautiful spiritual experience in a place I didn't expect.
I found myself at the Coco Bongo Club in Cancun with my camera, watching an amazing acrobatic depiction of the Passion of Christ movie playing on their multiple screens around the club. It felt like I was right there in an old Roman arena, surrounded by high tiers of seating, layers upon layers of people screaming and clapping as these men dropped down onto the dance floor. I remember being amazed that they let me through security with my camera at all, and captured this shot with little or no thought to technical settings or point of view. I just snapped in my enchanted state of the moment. It landed up winning first place, in my designated category, in the Caribbean Travel & Life Magazine Photo Contest I entered every year that I travelled south.
The funny twist to this story is that the projection we had at the church would not pick up any pink tones in my photos. We hadn't had time to run through the show beforehand, so after a long afternoon of putting together my small piece of art, my photos all came out with a blue undertone! I was crushed. There were vivid sunsets, landscapes, and artistic visual scenes I wanted to share in the full beauty of how I had en-captured them. After I shared this frustration with a few close friends, they were surprised to hear the photos weren't meant to be that way. They thought them very interesting and uniquely artistic.
As I thought of this later, I realized this also represented a perspective of my life here in the small town of L.A. For the past going on almost four years now, I not only have found a safe harbour to rest and re-alighn myself, but have also been hidden away to some degree, not fully projecting the beauty of who I am or what I will contribute to my world. I needed to become very small and quiet. The people here accept my hue as it is, not aware of the visual I see in my mind and or feel in my soul of my colourful destiny. This has been a gift and a curse. For I know what is waiting to burst out of my heart, but timing is of the essence and I must wait and be content with the view from this projection.
If you too find yourself in a hidden state, don't fret. There is no way your light can stay hidden, unless you suppress it yourself. There will be unexpected strategic sign posts along the way to help, if you're looking for them. The key is to trust and keep the faith in what is unseen. The hidden picture of who you were truly created to be is waiting to burst free into the open, and bring creative beauty to those around you. That is your spiritual magic. When the time is right, it will shine.
Merry Christmas,
DJ
