It was "Celebrate What's Right In The World" by former National Geographic Photographer, Dewitt Jones. Some of the younger attendants commented on it being cheesy, or how they didn't think it had anything to do with marriage. No matter how cheesy it was, the message was phenomenal: celebrate what's right! From a photographers point of view it was about waiting to get that shot: maybe a half hour from now the sun would be in the perfect place and magic would happen! He also talked about not quite getting that shot you'd been hoping for, but finding something awesome none the less. He talked about a beautiful field of flowers he kept meaning to photograph but by the time he got there, the flowers were gone and he was left with a field of fuzzy dandelions. He decided to shoot anyway and the result was perfection!
There is beauty and perfection out there, even if it means waiting a few hours to find it, like in this shot:
He didn't just walk into the woods and shoot that picture- he waited for it! I urge you to head on over and watch the film for yourself, available on his website: Celebrate What's Right In The World.
What I took away from this video, as it pertains to my marriage, is that not every single minute is going to be bliss-filled perfection. Sometimes we are going to fight, sometimes we are going to want to punch each other's daylights out! Those moments when we want to punch the wall are the moments between the breathtaking sunrise and sunset. They are the moments that we wait out until the moment of beauty arrives.
We don't go through our lives only living the happy times, why should we expect our marriages to be like that? Isn't it, after all- the down moments, the bad times, that make those breathtaking moments so very special? Without hurt there would be no forgiveness. I sometimes need to remind myself that while there are rough patches, there are so many beautiful moments in my marriage- celebrate them!
There are a few posters like the ones above, that you can purchase in the store on the Celebrate website. I think we might pick one out together, frame it, and hang it somewhere to constantly be reminded to celebrate what is right in our world- what is right in our marriage!
What did you take away from watching his film? Were you inspired to celebrate?
2 comments:
Lovely! You know I'm a sucker for good photographer and I relate to that message both as a photographer and as it goes towards marriage (and motherhood!). I've been thinking a lot lately about how sometimes I get bogged down in the bad and forget to cherish the good :) Great blog, as always friend!
Sometimes I want to punch those young, new couples in the throat.
The expectation nowadays is that you have a marriage as amazing and wonderful as your imagination allows. I'm sorry but did they not get the reality talk? Waiting for the moments of joy and exhilaration is part of the fun of marriage. The idea of looking at marriage as walk through the forest waiting for that perfect sunshine shot is so spot on. You go into not knowing if you'll get it, but wanting it enough to wait for it. Sometimes fight for it. It's not always perfect, but if it was everyone would have one and the it wouldn't be as special.
Awesome that you got to experience this message and that you saw past the cheese and took something away from it to impact your marriage.
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