HOPE – Weddings are always pretty and beautiful and witnessing two people promising their lives to each other, is a powerful promise to make and it sends out Hope, that there are true love out there for everyone. It might not happen now but when the time is right, your match will show up and claim his prize…
The weekend that passed, I went to Worcester to visit a friend of mine. I spent the weekend there on the farm and took these pictures. No editing dong except for the frames, I didn’t even know this week’s topic until this morning. The bottom one was taken while we were driving. It was a very warm day and then a few clouds gathered and I just had to take a picture, as simple as that.
There are three things that comes to mind when I hear the word: Peaceful
When I look at old churches, I reflect and let the peacefulness in.
Nature is the place I need to go when things get tough, nature makes me calm and gives me time to think straight.
A campfire in the middle of nowhere, a few friends gathered around it, there is nothing more perfect than that.
Summer is running high here in South Africa at the moment and when its hot, everyone take it to the beach! I went to the beach with some friends of mine who started their senior year in high school a few days ago, we celebrated their last few days of being free before the year starts with a bang.
The two of them became friends throughout the past two year in High School and they always know just how to have fun.
Running around in the shallow waters, Lanita laughed as she forgot how cold the Atlantic really gets.
Soaking up the sun and enjoying her last few days of the summer holiday.
Wondering if her Senior Year will be what everyone makes it out to be?
Between the two of them they have the right amount of spunk, the enjoy life while they are still young and carefree.
“Friends, are the family that God forgot to give us” – unknown
Kite-surfer about to launch herself into the cold waves of the Atlantic Ocean
Kite-surfer
Kite-surfer riding the icy waves of Blaauwberg Beach in Cape Town
Surfing the waves
Strength is sometime that every person needs and it sometimes comes in different shapes and sizes. You will need strength to just get through the day after a long night with a sick loved one or perhaps a very late party. You can need strength to walk a five mile fun walk for a good cause. Sometimes you just need strength to get through the day without killing a college and sometimes strength isn’t enough for that.
Being asked the question, where do you receive your strength from, well that made me think for a bit, where does it all come from? I am a religious person in some sense but not a one hundred percent hardcore believer. Most people would say that they get their strength from God and they pray for it. I thought a little about it and realised, that is pretty much not me.
I get my strength from my friends and loved ones, from people around me and things that happen in my life. When I am in a situation and I have no hope or I feel down, then I just talk to someone I care about and realise that I can do it with a little effort. A little effort can go a long way when someone is motivated.
When you show up at a 5 mile fun walk and you wonder why on earth did I say I would do this? Just look around and look at the amount of people that showed up for a cause greater than themselves. Look at the person standing next to you, the person that has endured a six month chemo trials and still finds it in her to come walk for something she believes in.
Perhaps when you stand in front of you 7th grade classroom and you wonder how on earth you will get through the last two hours of the day, look at the children sitting there in front of you. Think back to when you were there and you wondered how will you get through that last few hours with that annoying know it all teacher. Think about the lives of those children that you can enrich with the knowledge that you have accumulated throughout the years and the opportunities that lies in front of them. One day that kid you despised the most can become the president of your country and you can sit in your living room with your grandkids wondering around, thinking that I might have done something right that year to lead that child there. Thinking about that can give you the little strength it is needed to just get through that last few hours.
When you sit in your office, wishing that the last hour of your Friday afternoon will just fly by, take a moment back and think upon the millions of unemployed people across the world that would do anything to just get that hours work. Then you might get that extra push to get through the day.
When your friends ask you to host a New Year’s party at your house, your mood sinks into your boots and you think why the hell should you be the one? Think on all the newspaper articles you read after New Year about the amount of people who died on the road due to drunk driving or the result of a drunk driver. That could be one of your friends if you send them away and perhaps you should be honoured that your friends want to spend their New Year’s Eve with you. It will be a little bit easier when you are busy doing the dishes at four am and all the people passed out in your house, at least you know that they will be with you a little bit longer.
There are many examples like these that I can present to you but I will rather end it here. What I am trying to say is that when you need strength for something no matter how small or big the situation is, think on the alternatives, the negative things as well at the positive, somewhere you will get some motivation to move along. That motivation is most probably brought onto by something that shows you how fortunate in life you really are or by something that shows you that it could be worse.
Pretty much my point is, look at the big picture. You can be glad you are going somewhere and that makes me realise that God has a plan for me. If he didn’t I would still be stuck where I was ten years ago. We get strength from the people around us, where do the people around us come from, well that is simple, God put them in our lives for a reason. So if you look a little bit further, God helps to guide your way and give you strength to move forward without you even looking for his help.
In the end, you get your strength from a higher power even if you don’t want it, asked for it or expected it. There is something greater than us out there, you must just be willing to be open enough to look for it.
Who could have believed that the New Year would creep on us so quickly. The past year flew by when I look back and had a lot of ups and downs but my friends and loved-ones got me through it. I thought it fitting to spend my new years eve party with those people.
We spent New Year Eve at a beach house in Gordons Bay. Standing outside on the back deck, I had to grab my camera and capture the final sunset for 2011.
Last Sunset 2011
We started the night off with a few card games.
UNO
Later we decided to spice things up a little, each time someone wins he/she nominates someone to take a shot of beer!
Beer Shot
We warmed up the party and then later walked down to the peer to watch fireworks and have a few more drinks at a lovely little bar. After the festivities were over I put the camera on a timer and took a shared a moment with people I care for.
May 2012 be a great year
