I thought about how different my education was and then how different my children's education was from mine. I also thought about how some things would be the same. Children in the early 1900's looked out windows and wished they were outside and children today still look out school windows and wish they were outside.
Windows are great gifts. They allow us to be inside protected from the elements while seeing the world outside. For many homes in the past and in some places still today they are luxuries that we take for granted in our time and place.
Windows are also very hard to photograph. Either you expose for the inside of the room in which case the window is overexposed and you just see white light and no detail or you expose for the window and the room is dark. I had tried to get a picture through a window in a church in Cades Cove two years ago and did OK, but I wanted to try again using some of the things I have learned from my photography club critiques.
This was my result. I enjoyed trying different settings and working till I got what I wanted. When I was finished I sat a few moments on the bench and just looked out the window. There was no one else there. Thomas had gone outside because the musty smell was bothering his allergies. As I sat there in this quiet and peaceful place I thought about these verses from Psalm 46
"God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling."
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
When I look out a window I want to never take them for granted - trusting God to be my ever present help in times of trouble.