It’s About Living in the Present

It’s About Living in the Present

It’s About Living in the Present, I have been blogging for a little over a year I think. I never knew what blogging was when I started, I just looked it up one day and started figuring out how to do it. And I have met some wonderful people through this thing called word press.

And today I would like to Dedicate this post to a fellow blogger whom I discovered back in July of 2019. His site name is ” The Rural Iowegian“, I was intrigued right away, first because he was from Iowa, where I live. Second he is a photographer and a wonderful writer with daily ‘Thoughts of Today” that he writes on his page. Words of Wisdom to me.

It's About Living in the Present  pink rose of life

I was reading one of his latest post where he talked about taking a photography class and the teacher asked everyone what there goal was. And the Rural Iowegian said the following words;

 I told Doug that I wanted to take one photograph that made people look at it and just say “wow!”

Is it important to know whether or not I succeeded?  In the big scheme of things, probably not.  Is it important to me?  I think so.  I have never thought of myself as one who has left a permanent footprint in the sands of life, and it would be nice to know if I reached at least this one goal so that after I am gone, someone might look at that photograph and still say “wow”.

Well dear Sir, your photos never went unnoticed from the day I found your first post in July of 2019. Matter of fact I have said wow many times. You are truly a gifted photographer and thank you for sharing your visions and words of wisdom.

It's About Living in the Present water droplets on a plant

Certain post of his stick out in my mind, from making Sun Catchers, to photographing beautiful parks in Iowa. To building a shed in his back yard that he said was physically harder than he thought it would be. But he never gave up. What I took away from your words of wisdom is that you never gave up. Nor will you give up on this next chapter of your life.

Every post he ended it with “Thoughts of Today.” Well, yesterday the title to his post was; My Last Thought;

He wrote; There comes a time in everyone’s life when the end has become all too evident.  Today, that became my time.

He along with others in due time, myself included, we will all write our last post. We will discover that time is precious, that living in the present is so very important. And to enjoy life to the fullest and never forget to ask the Father;

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

Yesterday is gone forever; Tomorrow will always be unknown; Live in the Now

Thank you – Mark Cooper ; MSgt/USAF Aka; The Rural Iowegian

By Mark Cooper; The lyric that escaped me for 25+ years speaks to what I do for a living and those that I try to help.  It’s about living in the present, and yesterday it hit me for the first time. 

The lyric is: Coming Back to Life

Watch this video on YouTube.
Sandra J's Photography

I know where I come from and where IAM going. I will never die I simply disappear into Creation where I came from and see what is on the other side of the door. 

It’s About Living in the Present

by Sandra J

51 Replies to “It’s About Living in the Present”

  1. One reason I don’t try to post every day is I just don’t have that much to say. The second reason is I want to keep doing this for a long time. I’ve been blogging for about 14 or 15 years I think and because it’s sporadic it never feels like a chore and I never feel like I have to come up with something. I admire people who can do it daily, but I’m sure not one of them.

    1. I know what you mean Emilie, I have only been doing this for about a year. I don’t have a lot of words sometimes, I am not that good with words. I just pick out a photo or two and a few words will just come to me. My blog is all about sharing photos of creation. And there are many days I do not get out to take photos. Depending on the seasons, so I have been taking the weekends off lately. We love to travel and hopefully we will start doing that again. I have had more time on my hands lately, but a couple days a week I like to not open the computer at all. I just do what ever comes to me. No schedule, I never liked schedules. 🙂 Thank you Emilie.

      1. That’s why I call my blog travel and random thoughts. I always write when I travel and take photos to capture my travels. Occasionally I just have some random thoughts that needs to be put down, like my thoughts about spirits I posted a few days ago.
        I’m taking a little trip in about three weeks and it will definitely become a blog post! I will be “meeting” with a woman who has been dead for 114 years.

        1. I just went over and read that post. I will be very interested in reading your next post also. I to have encountered experiences such as that. But all when I was younger. But I remember them as if they happened yesterday. 🙂

  2. That was a beautiful tribute to your fellow blogger Sandra. I went and read his post and left a word of encouragement. I follow a blogger named Kevin and he also has cancer and his blog is written for his grandson Camden. It is a series of posts to tell him stories. He does not write very often – perhaps once every other month. The blog is called “Dear Camden”. Your photos are beautiful – the dewy-looking flower and the droplets of rain or dew, thinking rain? Very nice.

    1. Thank you Linda, we do get to meet some wonderful people on here. People we will never meet who have a gift though, a gift of words, sharing thoughts and sharing their life experiences. Even though sometimes it is for such a short moment. I think it is a blessing that we get to be with people like Mark and Kevin, just like meeting you. You remember back in the day when there was pen pals. I never had one, but I feel I do now with our chats and visits. What would it be called now, typing pals? Or just good friends. 🙂

      1. Yes, I agree that is one of the wonderful parts of blogging and I had my blog for four years before any fellow blogger reached out and followed my blog … that was Keith (Uncle Tree) whom I got the Sandhill Crane info from.
        And since then it has been a wonderful experience. I am glad to have met you Sandra – we have become good friends through our blogs and since we share a love of nature as well., I never thought of it that way, but “typing pals” … I like that idea too. Back when I was young, I had a penpal from Korea. His name was Duck Wan Suh. I don’t know if we wrote to one another for a school project or maybe through Brownies. We corresponded for years then I did not hear from him. I also had a pen pal for a while during Operation Desert Storm. A co-worker’s minister passed out a list of names of service personnel serving in Iraq who asked if they could have pen pals since they had no family. She brought the list to work and all the secretaries took three names, one from each division of the military. I wrote to Air Force, Navy and Marines personnel and only heard from one person, a guy named Bill Perez, who was in the Marine Corp. His father was also a Marine who was killed in action. His mother asked him not to enlist – he wanted to go and avenge his father’s death. He was on a death mission of sorts. We corresponded for about a year maybe, then no more letters … I don’t know if he lost interest or he finished his tour of duty … or worse. He was from Camden, New Jersey.

        1. I would have enjoyed doing that, writing to those in service. My grandfather was in Navy, he never talked about it. But I remember the tattoo on his arm. An anchor, and a book he had where all the men he worked with, signed it when he was getting out of the navy.

          1. Oh that was nice – I’ll bet your grandfather treasured that book. I wonder if his “ship mates” all had the same type of tattoo? I did like doing that, especially the Korean pen pal as I had him the longest.

    1. I do not know where the name comes from, like every state they have a nick name for it. Florida I think is Floridians.

      1. I know, but I always thought people from Iowa were called Iowans, not Iowegians. So that’s why I wonder if Iowegian means an Iowan of Norwegian descent. Kind of like how some of my high school friends from Plumdale, a rural community, derisively refer to it as “Plumtucky.”

  3. That is so inspiring. Many times we forget how small we are in the grand scheme, then we meet others that seem to instantly put it in perspective

  4. This is a great post. I am using his quote as a lead off and will also reference your post. There is so much to digest in this post. Thanks for linking it all together.

    1. You are very welcome and thank you. I will miss his post, but I understand why he needs to focus on his family. That is more important.

  5. Living in the moment—that must be a challenge sometimes since you capture it so well with your lens. I often request my husband to put down the camera and appreciate the moment and he replies by taking the photo he can relive the moment later. It’s a conundrum, isn’t it?

    1. Yes it can be. But what I have learned over the years about being a photographer is to have lots of patience. To just sit for awhile and enjoy where I am at, I don’t go to a spot to just take photos, I take photos because I am already there enjoying nature around me. Thank you Pam.

  6. First of all your images, Sandra, are stunning! And second of all, the overall message in this post brought tears to my eyes. All we truly have is NOW, nothing more. And when it is time for us to return HOME, God guides us there unerringly. LOVED how you edited these pictures. Just stunning effects!!! xo

    1. Thank you Amy, yes, we have to live in the present. But my thought on leaving this world, now that I know where I came from, is not a scary thing. I will be returning to home. That is a heart warming feeling for me. Have a wonderful weekend Amy.

      1. I feel the same way. Especially being I had a NDE. There is no fear in dying. None. Not only that, you do NOT want to come back! The LOVE I experienced is like no other on this earth. I will never forget this and I so look forward in getting off this crazy world. You as well have a wonderful weekend. Thank you! xo

  7. I’m always in awe of your bird-pictures. But today’s flower-pictures are simply wonderful. I exclaimed Wow! at each of them. 💕

    1. Thank you Jo, I took those yesterday. It was a rainy, gloomy day. But the flowers brought some light to the day.

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