This year, I’m writing about what Christ means to me. I’m a hybrid spiritualist – Jew, Quaker, Follower Of Christ, from the Kabbalah to Merton- quite a mix.
Christmas is a parade of emotions for me. I capture this emotion in my pictures, from the flowers to the refugee children to the brave and wonderful women who come to my meditation class to my wife and our animals.
Above all, there is Maria, her wonderful smile, her big heart, her brave soul. I think there must be a God if he found us and brought us together.
All of that is about emotion for me, and I feel the spirit closely on Christmas. These children, these women at the edge of life, are all captured in my heart and mind; they each touch me in a different but lasting way.
(Above, Jane gifted artist in Memory Care)
I found this parable in the Kabbalah, and I want to share it:
“One day, a Jewish disciple asked the Master, “What good work shall I do to be acceptable to God?
How should I know? The Master said.
“Your Bible says that Abraham practiced hospitality and God was with him. Elias loved to pray, and God was with him. David ruled a kingdom, and God was with him too,
“Is there some way,” the disciple went on, “I can find my allotted work?
“And the Master answered him. “Yes, search for the deepest inclination of your heart and follow it.”
Every one of these images touched me in a deep and different way. These pictures are all emotions for me; they stir me up and come from the deepest inclinations of my heart. They represent love and life and the very best of the human experience.
From meditation class to Bishop Maginn to the farm to Bishop Gibbons and back to Memory Care, this is how I feel at Christmas.
This, somehow, and after all this, is what Christmas is about for me. Reaching out to people and feeling them reaching back out to me. I want to do these photos without captions; they should speak for themselves. They are the spectrum of life.
I’ll be doing this every day until Christmas.
Portrait, the Mansion
Meditation Class
Bishop Gibbons, teacher and students
Meditation Class
Meditation Class
Sue and student
Zinnia and the Head
Learning to feed the hens
Kelsie, Jean’s Place
Hser Nay, artist with heart
Welcome to Bishop Gibbons
Art Class
What a beautiful meaning for Christmas! Your pictures capture the meaning of the season, peace, hope, love and joy! Thank you for inspiring me to be my best self, however that looks on any given day! Cherish each moment because as Seals and Crofts said “We may never pass this way again” Blessings to you, Maria, and all that inhabit Bedlam Farm.
every one of these photos are a sight for sore eyes. Beautiful, uplifting…..and makes me slap myself out of my winter torpor! Thank you, Jon! I look forward to them every single day
Susan M
Utterly inspiring!
Such lovely photographs!
Merry Christmas one and all!
Peace be with you.