God mórgon!

(That’s “good morning” in Swedish!)  I hope this note finds you doing well and you’ll forgive me for not blogging over the last week.  It’s been a crazy couple of days as I attended WPPI in Las Vegas last weekend and then boarded a plane LAST NIGHT for Stockholm, Sweden.  I’m actually not there yet, but sitting in the Zurich airport waiting for my connection.  As you can imagine, I’ve been swamped getting all my irons in the fire completed before this crazy adventure.  I promise once I return I will be posting images of my time in Vegas.  I look forward to sharing all about the work we (Pictage and some other awesome photogs such as Joe Buissink, Mike Colón, Zach and Jody Gray, and Justin and Mary Marantz to name a few) did with the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas.  Until then, here’s a bit about what’s going on in my world….

Qavah, pronounced kaw-vaw, is a Hebrew word that means a great deal to me.  It’s one of the 26 Hebrew words with the meaning “wait.”  Though, this word means more than to passively wait.  Qavah means to wait with hopeful expectation, to set our eyes upon what we are looking for.  Take a child, for example, that was just told her favorite grandmother was coming to visit.  The little girl paces around and rushes many times to the window to see if grandma has arrived.  There is an excited, hopeful expectation — the little girl knows grandma is coming and is waiting for her arrival.  Qavah is not passive, but active and full of life.

It is through this lens that I look at my future.  Suddenly, I find myself with the world at my fingertips.  Yet, more than ever I find myself leaning on God and willingly walking with some insecurities for the time being.  So many questions, wonders, hopes, and dreams are all at the forefront of my mind.  And in the midst of this state, in fact for the last ten or twelve months, God has strongly laid it upon my heart to simply be still and know that He is God (Pslam 46:10) and to wait patiently for Him to act (Psalm 37:7).   However, I find it extremely difficult through a busy, daily to-do list to actually be still and listen to Him.  I have a feeling I don’t slow down long enough to do so.

With that said, I’m putting the reins on and embarking on a new adventure.  Today, actually!  One adventure that will allow me to check an item off my bucket list.  With my camera as my only physical companion, I am heading to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days and then to Scotland.  I don’t have much of a plan, other than to do less, not more, and to fill my days with silence, not noise.  My intention is to do what’s been pulling at my heart for the last year and that’s to be still and know that God is God.  And take some photographs of these amazing places, of course.

I’m mildly nervous for this extended period of solo, international travel (to include driving on the other side of the road!).  Okay, maybe slightly more than mildly.  ;-)  But with the support of my friends and family and blog readers like you, I know I’ll be okay.  The e-mails that have been pouring so far in with words of encouragement are just remarkable.  Thank you!  You inspire me.  You make me want to be brave.  You fuel me to change the world around me… one story-telling photograph at a time.  I look forward to sharing this adventure with you through photos (hopefully posted to the blog while abroad).

Until then, here’s to looking outside the lens and to thinking about what isn’t in the frame!

With joy, love, anticipation, and a few butterflies,

René

P.S We just had our 1000th comment!! Wahoo!  Congratulations Kelli from Emily and Jake’s post!