The Evolution of a Thought

Call to Me, and I will answer you,
and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3

Today I got to face the challenge of declaring my independence from self-imposed limitations as mentioned in my July 4th post.

I write a bi-weekly amateur photography column for an online magazine that publishes on Fridays. Deadline is Monday evening, so here it was, Tuesday morning, and I didn't have my column done. I hadn't even started it.

I've had a very busy last couple of weeks and though I had been going through ideas to begin a new series of photo lessons, nothing was clicking (pardon the pun). Nothing.

I could have given in to the writer's block, and I would have been forgiven for missing my column this one time. However, while considering throwing in the towel, just this one time, I felt a still small voice whispering- "don't give in to your self-imposed limitations." Arrgh! Okay. Now what? The editor had given me an extension til the afternoon. I needed something quick.

So, I asked the Lord to give me something to write on. Going on His promise from James 1:5-7 which says " If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;" (NKJ). Lord, I need your wisdom to get this done!

Then I had a thought--photograph that bag of potatoes you bought yesterday. Didn't have a clue what was next, but I got the bag of potatoes and put them on the wooden swing on my front porch and photographed them. Not much to look at...just a 5-lb bag of red potatoes which were going to be part of chicken stew I was making for dinner.

Then decided to take some potatoes out of the bag to photograph. So I brought them back inside, and began arranging potatoes on my kitchen counter and taking shots of them at different angles, using the window light in the kitchen.

And then something clicked. From there, one by one, I started adding the rest of the ingredients for the chicken stew and before I knew it, I not only had a sample still life image, but also a creative exercise to share with my readers, in giving them tips on how to enhance their own creativity by allowing a thought to evolve.

What I learned and am sharing with you:
Don't allow self-imposed limitations to limit you. If you've run out of your own ideas, thoughts, ways to do something, etc, and you need a solution... Ask the Lord! He promises to give wisdom to whomever asks Him, but you must ask believing He will answer.

Next, when you get a small thought, go with it no matter how obscure and insignificant it may seem. I'm reminded of the story of Naaman the leper, in 2Kings Chapter 5 who went to see the prophet Elisha for healing. Elisha sent him word to go wash in the Jordan river 7 times. In his pride, Naaman almost didn't do it because what came from God seemed ridiculous. And he almost missed getting healed.

So, don't discard that seemingly obscure thought that may come when you ask God for wisdom. It could be the door to something more than you ever thought possible.