Living the Sweet Life

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Well my friends, December has rolled back around to us yet again! Hardly yesterday it seems I was getting ready for spring, and all at once, 2014 flew by making me wonder if all of the rest of my years will be the same. Gosh knows I surely hope not! The time we have here is more precious as we get old enough to realize what life is . . . oddly, very short. In the time that we each have been given, God has gifted us with special talents. I recently listened to a sermon about fanning the flames and holding onto your torch. Each of us has a passion somewhere deep inside of us. Sometimes it’s so easy to see. It’s glaring at us from the very beginning like Michael Jackson and later in teen years, Michael Jordan. For most though, it’s not just “right there obvious.”

As an artist, it has always been my “passion with a purpose” to create images, and based on my life experiences, use photography to permanently document people at various stages and capture the relationships we all have. Some years, I have been running with a torch burning bright and on fire.  Other years, I have been walking with my torch, my arm bent weakened by stress over the economy, the children, my life. God has this wonderful plan for us, though. He gets us here with specific talents and places a burning desire to grow and share with others from the fruits of using these talents. In years of strife, it’s easy to want to just put the torch down, stop running and do something else. Don’t!

As a new year comes in, so does an opportunity awaiting you to seize hold of whatever it is that drives you. Search deep within yourself to find the special gift God has given you and only you. Once you find it, create a life around it, and give it to whoever will take it. Someone asked me recently if I could go back to being a teenager, would I? I said “no.” Then, they asked if I could go back to being in my 20s and 30s, would I? I said “no” to all of that. I am happy right where I am. I am happy because I am growing. I am running with my torch in my hand. My finish line is mine, and it will be scattered with years of rampant passion and creativity, as well as years of wondering if this is really what I am supposed to be doing with my life. Am I making a difference? Am I using my gifts to glorify Him?

I used to want to photograph everyone in Houston. I now have the sense to know that God only provides the correct people in my life to receive my gifts. Not everyone is supposed to be with me. I am thankful for having learned this lesson.

This new year, I am again on fire! I have plans to start doing underwater prenatal photography, a baby calendar showcasing my best work and write my first novel. I have been working on a collection of paintings, and I think by mid-year, they will be ready to submit for acceptance into the National Association of Women Artists. I hope this year will bring you joy and that you will pass me as we together run with our torches held high!

Take Care of YOU!

Alisa