Lent Photo a Day: Look

This morning, I woke up before anyone else in the house was stirring. Normally I would have gone right back to sleep, or at least relaxed in bed for a while, but then I thought about this morning’s Photo a Day subject and decided I would take advantage of the quiet to take a few photos of the world outside my windows, which had been covered in a light blanket of snow overnight. I slipped on jeans and a sweater and tiptoed downstairs. Of course my first order of business was to make myself a cup of coffee.

But while it was brewing, I heard voices outside and peeked through the curtains to see a couple of my neighbors struggling to move their car, which was partially blocked by one of our cars. I threw on my coat and boots and called out to them that I’d come get it out of their way. I didn’t bother to scrape the windshield, since I only had to back it straight up and there was nothing behind me for a good 20 feet. After a quick chat through our rolled-down windows, agreeing how sick of winter we are and commiserating about the horrible commuting situation, we wished each other a good day, and she pulled out of the driveway while I began to pull the car back into its spot. But when I looked forward, all I could see was this. 

I was looking, but I wasn’t seeing. If I squinted, I could barely make out a tree off to the left, but directly in front of me, where I was heading, all I could see was a wall of white. I simply had to pull ahead gently, trusting to my memory of what was there and my instincts of how far I could safely go. I carefully eased forward those last few inches until I felt the resistance of the banked snow in front of my tires, and I knew I was safe.

Isn’t that a great metaphor for life? Even when you look, sometimes you just can’t see. You keep looking, peering past or through or around whatever it is that’s clouding your vision. You trust your own instincts to keep you safe, sometimes you ask others for external perspective to help guide you. You rely on memory and logic to help you get where you want to be, but in the end, sometimes you just need to keep looking as best you can and then move ahead anyway.

Look.