By kaka Lucas, 27/9/2022

Thinking that I can’t have eight straight hours of sleep, I was brought to an instant stop so I looked at some pictures I took in St. Ann some months ago. Then the writing from the Gospel of Matthew clapped for me to turn and look …..

And why are you anxious ……. ? Look how the wild flowers grow, they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild grass; grass that is there today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won’t He be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have! Matthew 6:28-30

I am falling in love with my camera, and we sometimes take long walks wandering along beautiful bushes and enjoying the serenity.  A few months ago, we took a trip to St Ann, a place where I believe God took afternoon naps when He was creating the world. The place is breathtakingly beautiful. Our driver didn’t need air conditioning in the car because the bushes fanned us as we drove on both the smooth as well as the dusty roads that were full of portholes. The hills seemed to join hands as if to sing “ring a ring a roses”, the children’s song in the summer. The greenness of the plantation captured our eyes. There were a lot of cows here and there grazing, some of them actually stopped as if to greet us with a gentle moo! I think that was their way of smiling too.

 

We arrived at the top of the hill where our host lived. It took us 15 minutes to get there – it could have been longer because the beauty was heavenly. The welcome she gave us was angelic, and even though she had lost her best friend and husband, she was relaxed and warm. She gave us a tour of what I will call a mansion. The smell of the treated lumber reminded me of 2015, when I came back to Jamaica and was sent to the countryside. Each room seemed to have meant something to her. She introduced us to each wall that the house was made of, not only with excitement, but also a brightness that was glittering on her whole face. I guess it is these rays that illuminated from her that made me reflect, after almost three months, on that trip.

Our host then took us outside the house. Everywhere was covered with a plant, a flower, or a fruit tree. From pineapples that stood erect just after the entrance to the guinep tree that was beside one of her bedrooms.

 

Looking across the other side, below the hill, my camera lens could not capture everything. Sitting down and taking a deep breath was the best option, and the grass that was fluffy welcomed me so nicely that I wished I would never have to return to Kingston again. I took a million pictures.

Recalling all that beauty, oh how I wish I could draw. I would sit with a canvas erected in front of me and allow the paintbrush to play salsa between my fingers, then I would allow folks to see how beautiful some parts of Jamaica are. I then recalled that I could write, so I took a deep breath, pulled my chair close to my desk, and started to write.

 

Even though I have a lot of questions for God…why this and why that…..I am grateful and humbled. I am thankful He has brought me to realize how small I am compared to His vastness, but yet He is just so mindful of me. Now I choose to make it my responsibility to forcefully sing a nice lullaby aloud every time sleep tries to run away from me. I will strengthen my faith in God and lessen overwhelming myself with anxiety that cannot add a day to my life span. I will enter the warmth of the sun and His comfort with the confidence of a lion.

In this season as I wait with uncertainty, restlessness, and immense shifting, let me be reminded who God is and why I immerse myself in worry. It is not going to be easy, just as it is today, it may be worse tomorrow. So, when the time comes to face challenges, let us be brought to look at the flowers along the road if we have none outside our houses. Let’s look at the doctor birds that fly about extracting pollen from the flowers and even the creepy crawling cockroaches around our kitchen. It is God who takes care of them and He will undoubtedly take care of you too.

Should I go for photography course? Drop your opinion by the comment box.