For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

2nd Verse of "For the Beauty of the Earth"
(To listen, get the sheet music, or words)

Photo By Rebecca Kirton
Other Photos BY Rebecca: Circus Elephant and Evanston Wyoming

Still Waters

"1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalms 23)"

This beautiful shot is at Lake Louis in Alberta Canada. 

By Joshua Kirton
Other Spiritual thoughts: Family,  Good and Evil, and The Straight and Narrow

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Focus

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

There are many things in life that are important, and are discounted, cast aside as dross. Many men lose sight of what is important but have it right before their eyes. Family is worth more than all the world, but is ignored for small pieces of worldly wealth. If you are blind long enough you find yourself on the curb discounted as well, and no one will want to pay the price to be with you and all your worldly possessions.

One thing that photography does for me is that it freezes a piece of life to be evaluated. As I mull over what I see, I often can see if the focus is where it should be. If only all of us could do this in each of our lives, this world would be a much better place. Do not focus too much on what is past, or you will miss the picture of where you are headed, and do not focus too far in the distance or you will trip over what is right in front of you.

Photo taken at Bear Lake Utah
By Joshua Kirton
More Thoughts: The Price of Freedom, How in the World
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To Grandmother's House We Go

Over the hill and through the woods to grandmother's house we go. I don't know about you, but a trip to grandmother's house rarely meant a trip over the hill or through the woods, rather it meant getting on the freeway, to the interstate, then down a busy street, and into suburbia. I don't recall any run-ins with big bad wolves, only big trucks and bad drivers.
However you get to grandmother's house it is a good place to be. Grandmas have a tendency to spoil you, or at the very least let you get away with the occasional craziness.
This beautiful picture was not taken on the way to my grandmother's house, but rather on a drive up Diamond Fork Canyon with my wife in Utah.

By Joshua Kirton

All about Little Red Riding Hood, Including a recording of the story.
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Evanston, Wyoming: A Greater Purpose

Have you ever just stood in the middle of nowhere and loved it? I think so many times in life people find themselves lost. Those are the times in my life where I like to stand back and look at the big picture. To me this picture is a representation of how life looked to me at one point. The beauty and all the bugs not seen. But even though it was a difficult time in my life I can truly look back and see that I was never lost. I just had to trust that someone else could see the bigger picture. So the next time you find yourself in this situation. Stand back and enjoy the scenery because eventually you will find out it had a greater purpose.
By Rebecca Kunz Kirton

Arizona Lightning

I mentioned last time that late summer is a time we can rely on getting a little rain in our area. Well, with rain often comes lightning. The other night we had an awesome lightning show. Though we didn't receive much water exactly in my neighborhood, the lightning in the distance went on for more than an hour and was spectacular. The lightning in this picture all happened within the 132 seconds that the camera's shutter was open.
By Kyle Laurizen