Conduits

September 20conduits,breaux bridge

I am thankful for conduits. Conduits are defined  as 1) a pipe or channel for carrying fluids; 2) a tube or duct for enclosing electrical wires or cable; 3) a means to transmit something. An electrical conduit is a pipe through which electrical wires run. These allow the wires to be protected and allow us to be protected from them. And they make the entire complex of wires much neater and easier with which to deal.

I owe a thanks to Diane of my Sunday School class who came up with this one. She said that we should all serve as conduits to God. In this light, I think of conduit as a channel or connection. So, in paraphrasing Diane, just as we should strive to have a connection with God, we should also serve as a connection or channel for others to know God. Thus, we need to live our lives as people representing God with faith, dignity, and love. If we form a conduit to God, it allows us to better understand His will in our lives, as well as for others to discover His will in their lives. 

I told Diane I was going to use her idea but I didn't know what to photograph. Low and behold, it turns out I had taken this photo in Breaux Bridge because I thought the wires were interesting, but not thinking about conduits at the time. Yesterday, when I was processing the photos from that outing, I rediscovered this photo and instantly made the connection with the conduit theme. As you can see in the photo, where there is no conduit, the wires go every which way and are quite disorganized. But the parts that are in the conduits are nice and neat. (You could think of the light as being the light of God, if that's not too corny, with the conduits running up to it). So if we can form a conduit to God, our lives would be much simpler and neater and perhaps we would be more prone to living a life that is "neat" and uncluttered.

conduit

let me be a conduit

to connect to You

with others on earth

and everything we do

transmit and communicate

with thee on high above

to experience and pass on

Your wondrous and holy love.

© rt tulley

Lakes

September 19lakes,lake martin, breaux bridge la

I am thankful for lakes, or any body of water, for that matter. Lakes have both scenic and recreational qualities. My interest is in photographing them. Other people like to swim, boat, or water ski. And lakes attract many a variety of water fowls.

This is a photo of Lake Martin near Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. It is indeed a beautiful setting and also is sanctuary to many birds. This isolated kayak was one of several that were apparently receiving lessons from an instructor on the proper way to kayak. I captured him along with the lone cypress just as the sun was setting in the west.

lakes

a lake is defined as a body of water

which is surrounded by land

it can be differentiated from a pond

in that a lake is more grand

but it is all relative

in a relativistic way

i choose to call a lake

one in which you can swim and play.

© rt tulley

Potential

September 18potential;empty bottles

I am thankful for potential. We all have untapped potential; our potential is practically limitless. I like the Dr. Seuss book Oh the Places You'll Go! I have given it as a graduation present before and have used it in classes because it is so optimistic about what we can do with the potential we have. In the book Dr. Seuss says:

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose." © 1990, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.

So what we do with our potential and where we take it, is up to us. Of course we may sometimes fail to successfully attain it, as mentioned in Oh the Places You'll Go! But to attempt and fail is much better than never trying. The only sad thing would be to allow our potential to sit there on the shelf (like the bottles in the photo), unused. So go out and get it!

Today's photo of antique bottles was taken at a Breaux Bridge antique store. I wanted empty containers to represent potential. In other words, the empty bottles represent our potential, which we can fill with any type of liquid opportunities. I had several possible photos I could have used but Bebe helped me pick this one. Each of the other photos showed many similar containers but the fact that, in this one, each bottle is different shows that we all have different types of untapped potential. I think she chose well.

potential

we all have potential

to do many great things

we can spread ourselves outward

forming concentric rings

to affect those around us

in so many wonderful ways

so start filling up those bottles

for the rest of your given days!

© rt tulley