This week, I practice the words of Macrina Wiederkehr and I’m “leaving my head for a while on a journey to my heart.” I’m always surprised how I’ve lost the way but my Father knows and brings me home again.
Sometimes the journey to the heart takes a different path than I expect. I would do well to move to the rhythm of the moment rather than try so hard to find familiar landmarks. Perhaps my Father wants to show me a new way.
The anxiety that comes on vacation is real – This is your chance to relax and recharge so you better make the most of it! says the world. We have our ideas of what vacation ought to do, what our money ought to buy, as if a destination could give us the kind of peace our soul most longs for.
All vacations are not created equally. A house with 14 people is not a spiritual retreat. (I’ll share more about that this weekend). It’s good to know what this time is for – for joy, for play, for reconnection with my people. What a gift.
So this week I’m keeping the laptop (mostly) closed and instead I’m posting a lot on Instagram because it’s the prettiest medium around and I can take it with me. One way to see things differently is to take a picture of it. I know that sounds weird, but something happens in the framing, in the kneeling down for a better view.
While it’s possible to miss moments because of too much documenting, I think the bigger danger is in not recording them at all.
Over the years, taking photos has become a kind of remembering, a kind of worshiping God in a new way, if that’s not too weird to say. Writing helps me think better and photos help me see better. These days, Instagram is a place where I learn to see. You can follow me there (emilypfreeman) where I record moments of the days as they happen, write a word or two or even a few lines of reflection.
I have some favorites I follow on Instagram as well – @thenester, @gracelaced, @myorangepocket, @benjaminhole. So many others. Actually maybe I’ll share more of those on purpose soon and ask for your favorites, too. I have so many favorites and I’d love to find more. We can learn so much from each other.
When I’m not on vacation, these posts come 2-3 times a week. Want them to slip quietly into your inbox? Simply sign up with your email address here and be sure to click “blog posts.” Don’t want weekly emails but still want a little help to create space in your soul? Choose the option for “The Bench” and you’ll receive a letter from me only once a month. Or you can, of course, choose both.
Tondra Denise says
June 17, 2015 at 9:53 AM“…a kind of worshipping God in a new way” actually describes it perfectly! We get so busy, move so fast, and consequently miss so much. Photography allows us opportunities to slow down, see, and give thanks.
Tresta says
June 17, 2015 at 9:58 AMI took my big camera to the lake yesterday and thought the same thing – how the camera helps me see. So many tiny wildflowers and intricate grasses that I miss if I don’t look through the lens at them. Writing is for thinking, pictures are for seeing. Yes. Enjoy your not-a-retreat.
Rachel says
June 17, 2015 at 10:19 AMthank you.
Meema says
June 17, 2015 at 10:26 AMSince I just returned and I might add recovering nicely from being with 10 people, half of them kids, in a house at the beach, I know all about the not spiritual retreat part. But it was certainly a chaos well worth doing, and remembering in any and all ways possible, whether in written words or photographs.
And just to share – Mother Eartha has her own kind of beach memory keeping. 😉
http://bagsallpacked.blogspot.com/2015/06/mother-eartha-talks-on-sand-casting.html
Jennifer Dukes Lee says
June 17, 2015 at 10:45 AMI heart-swoon over your IG feed.
Pam says
June 17, 2015 at 12:31 PM“Writing helps me think better and photos help me see better.” Yes! Me too!
Morag says
June 17, 2015 at 1:46 PMI used to get annoyed at my husband always wanting to take photos. Then I went on a vacation without him and really missed the fact that he wasn’t there to record it through his skill as a photographer. All the photos of our kids when they were little are such a blessing to me now and I am thankful that God gave him that gift. He is not good with words, but he takes amazing shots!
Mimi says
June 17, 2015 at 2:31 PMBreathe in, breathe out, love your people and enjoy your vacation as much as is humanly possible with that many around. : )
anjuli says
June 17, 2015 at 5:07 PMthank you. it means so much that my little corner of the world can touch another person. i might be considered an ‘IG addict.” but i just love that i can have a front row seat into another persons world. what a gift. enjoy your vacation. i’m sure i’ll enjoy your pictures 🙂 xoxo
Ashley says
June 17, 2015 at 6:35 PMI find myself in this same place. On a family vacation. Wanting to plan fun for all my littles. But knowing and needing rest. We have been moving and going at full speed. And here, right now, we need rest. Today, we have lounged. Rested. Napped. Did real life but at a slow pace. And it was glorious. Enjoy your trip and find rest!
Kelly says
June 17, 2015 at 9:06 PMYes! I love Instagram. Pictures slow me down and let me breathe in the people and moments around me. It helps me to appreciate them more and humbles me that God would WANT me enjoy these moments. He doesn’t ask me to “work hard” at them; He wants connection with me through them.
Renee Swope says
June 17, 2015 at 10:01 PMHow in the world did you find @benjaminhole? I’m in love with his feed now and want to look at cows all day! #ihaveacowcrush
emily freeman says
June 17, 2015 at 10:15 PMRight?! I don’t even remember how I found him but he’s a top 5 favorite on instagram for sure.
Amanda Cleary Eastep says
June 17, 2015 at 11:17 PMI have been enjoying the “time of day” pics on Instagram. Thank you for sharing your favorites, too. Enjoy your people…
Kendra Chaney says
June 18, 2015 at 12:01 PM2 things – Yes! about vacations. When I expect too much of them, they let me down. When I go in with a mindset of letting go, it usually goes better. Or, if it is going to be a busy sightseeing vacay I have to set my mind to that and leave the relaxing for another trip.
Secondly, Yes! on Instagram. It’s like you’ve been peeking over my shoulder or reading my thoughts. I have been a Facebook addict and didn’t like Instagram. The day my kids got out of school this year, I deleted my Facebook app in order to stay more present and to turn down the noise. I since discovered in an art class that you can follow artists (big & small – of all kinds) on Instagram. Now my feed is full of beautiful pictures that I can scroll through quickly. I let my eyes have a feast and come back to any later in the day that I want to use as inspiration for my own art journal. So much beauty without any noise.
My favorites so far are
@muchloveilly
@hellolovelypeople_
@emmablock
@pen_and_paint
@augustwren
Love you Emily! Keep on writing to us and peeking over our shoulders. We’re all in this together!
Leighann says
June 18, 2015 at 12:37 PMI love instagram. I feel it’s so much more personal than facebook (I know, weird, right?) and can be done more quickly than a whole blog post. I joined in January of this year and it’s definitely my new crush. I just followed you and Benjimanhole. If there’s anything I love more than instagram (and food), it’s pictures of cows. Mooooo!
Cara Thompson says
June 19, 2015 at 8:48 AMI love your words: Writing helps me think better and photos help me see better.
Thank you so much for sharing your art. I just followed you on Instagram! My profile is @TheHomeLearner and I love sharing moments from my learning journey.
I hope we can connect! I love this community. 🙂
jill britz says
June 26, 2015 at 8:05 PMoh, my. thank you for the permission to take pictures. so strange to need it, but i thought i was missing the moments by recording them. but then, I SEE when i’m behind my camera. & what a gift to see.
also, i’ve been listening to hope*ologie podcasts. BLESS MY SOUL.
seriously, it’s so hard to make time for myself (homeschooling 4, including a toddler. biz-eee.), but listening to you talk about your life is a little chunk of therapy for me.
thanks for sharing you. you help restore me.