Illusions illuminate

It lights me up how you can use something concrete to teach something amorphous. God does that with me all the time - cancer is teaching me patience and self-control, of all things. Cancer is a concrete way to show me how precious what I have is. For 48 hours, the whole family has been in various stages of the stomach flu. This would normally have me cursing the day I was born as I wash mountains of laundry, scrub floors, stairs, and upholstery, and comfort an endless line of moaning, weeping children in the bathroom! These past two days have been a joy to me...the chance to participate in life, the nitty-gritty little details that I've often taken for granted standing out with incredible vibrancy.


Somehow, in the midst of the puke-party yesterday, the girls and I got on the subject of being big/being small, and talked about the power that comes with each position. We talked about choosing to abdicate power out of compassion, pity or simply moral compunction. I had fun taking these photos of them, showing them with a literal physical example how they hold each other in a unique way as siblings...making daily choices to either build up or tear down their sisters physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Rosy thought the photos were great, especially with the special effects I added, because it looks like she is holding a fairy instead of her quite ordinary sister Katy!

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands. (Pr. 14:1)

*Note: this optical illusion works much better outdoors where there is good light and a uniform backdrop, as you can set your aperture high and produce uniform depth-of-field. That wasn't an option at 35 below zero, though!