What comes to your mind when you think about how to take photos of the power of water?  Do you think of taking photos underwater where everything is quiet, muffled, and still. Where you are saturated, submersed, floating, weightless.

Or do you think of being above ground as the kids run through the sprinkler on a hot summer’s day?

Maybe your heart takes you to the wide, open stretches of the coastline,

where there is room to dance, see your reflection in the thin layer of salt water and run freely.

Maybe water is a healing element.  Washing.  Cleansing.  Restoring.  Replenishing.  Like the monsoon rains that pass through the jungle.

Water has always been a powerful force in my life.  It can be gentle and yet forceful.  It can lap the edges of stone, and over time it can soften every hard place.  Every morning I climb the same hill for one reason, to see the view of the water.  Every morning the view is different.  I climb to listen.  To lean in to what word of encouragement, word of hope, word of stillness the water wants to speak to my creative spirit.  Sometimes the waves are rough and remind me that I am full of passion–a force to be reckoned with.  Other times the water is still, like a sheet of glass, and I am comforted by the constant fullness that is ever present.  Sometimes the colors of blue are vibrant, and other times the mud and soot from below are being churned–darkening the water’s surface–and I know that as my own heart churns there is a needed purging, desired cleansing that I’m walking through.

When my beautiful CONFIDENCE Teachers asked me if this month’s blog circle could be the theme of water, my spirit smiled wide.  Today, you get to go on a journey through their different blog posts–experiencing what the theme of water means to them.  Some posts will make you laugh.  Some will make you breathe deep.  Others will teach you a new photo tip or technique.  But at the end, all will celebrate the cleansing, replenishing property of water that we are each born from when we enter this world.

Continue this month’s blog circle by visiting my Portland, OR CONFIDENCE Teacher, Beth Wendland’s blog.

“For I will satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing and sorrowful person.” -Jeremiah 31: 25

May the photos of water replenish and refresh your creative spirit today, as you journey through our teachers blog circle!

xo,

m