The above triad, has become not only one of my life’s centerpieces, but a frequent topic for me on this blog. They are a factor in every aspect of life.

Faith, has always been a problem for me. At times, it still is. The faith I have learned to have in God, is slowly, very slowly, beginning to spill over into my secular life. Faith in worldly things should be used sparingly, but it most definitely has its place. Faith in evil things, is at its best, a mistake, at worst, it is evil.

Patience? Yikes, that is a struggle for me. At a certain time in my life, late teens to mid twenties, I had no patience. Then photography came into my life, and then nature photography, and I realized, I would need lots of patience to create images. Then workshops began, I realized that patience not only can be a blessing, but it spills over beyond your own life. It can spread from one person to another.

I admit, I often still lack patience for things like governments and sometimes businesses, but I am getting better.

I thank God for that.

Perseverance was something that I was good with at times, and terrible other times. I eventually moved marriage into the I give up (no patience) category. I quit persevering. That’s nothing to be proud about. Day to day, moment to moment, perseverance is very important.

I just read the other day about a group of people, somewhere down south I believe, who were exploring a cave, and found a dog in that cave. Near death. She was friendly and cooperated with the people who were trying to save her.

After they brought her out, someone remembered seeing posters for a lost dog. She had been missing for months. There was flooding in the area and it appears,  that the dog washed into that cave.

She would have had plenty of water there, and maybe found a drowned little mammal (rat, mouse, squirrel etc.) or some growth in along the rocks to eat.

She never gave up. She had faith, patience (several months), and perseverance. Once again, she never gave up.

 Today she is with her human companion, and doing very well.

If she can do it, so can we. Now maybe God saved her. Maybe because her companion prayed. I know not, but I do know enough to learn from what I see.

Faith does not work if what we need, has to come on the schedule that we make up;. That’s where patience and perseverance comes in.

Dogs don’t pray and they are not capable of the sort of Godly faith that I refer to on these pages. They are however, one of God’s creatures and who is to say how often He uses them to help us on our journey.
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If true faith is the worship of God, certainly patience and perseverance have a
side job in photography.

Despite living in a state with a healthy sized population of Bald Eagles, it took
me quite a few years to finally get a few images of such. I never gave up, but I
lacked patience. Perseverance yes, but patience no. The question is,
did I have faith?  It was easy to have faith in this quest, as I said before, there
are a lot of these birds in my state. Faith is most admirable, when it is hard to
find and hard to keep.

Chasing insects such as this Bee Fly with a camera, requires both patience and
perseverance. They are not the actual same thing, but they are inseparable
partners.

Arches N.P. in Utah, is a fascinating place to be a photographer. Not only the
shapes of that beautiful Navajo Sandstone, but there often exists  the good
fortune to work the edges of light.  I thought about that all the way to the park,
from my home in Wisconsin. Would I get any good light to go with the rock?

I lacked faith, but I persevered because I was patient. Two out of three ain’t bad,
but faith is the key to everything. It makes the entire journey worthwhile.

I am fortunate to have been to Yellowstone N.P. several times in my life,
but only once as a serious photographer. Every photographer goes there to
photograph wildlife. Me too, but I recognize beauty when I see it.
The sunrise hour of my first day there, saw me creating landscapes instead of
photos of animals.

Sometimes what I lacked in faith, I made up for in my quest for serendipity. It did
take some patience to wait for light to appear. I was glad I waited.

In the end, everything will require faith.  Faith in God is rewarded.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Wayne