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I tried to take a picture of the moon tonight. It looked so beautiful with a star shining underneath, I wondered if I could capture it and share it. Unfortunately, my phone camera isn’t of the best quality, and I’m not a skilled photographer. Although I managed to take a picture, it didn’t turn out very well. My aspirations of becoming a world-renowned photographer have been dashed. 🤣

My humble attempt at taking a picture of the moon.

If you’ve read a bit on A Cultural Shift, you are aware that over my lifetime, I’ve had various career aspirations. Some of which I have shared here. There was a time I thought I might be an Olympic cross-country skier. Those ambitions didn’t take long to be dispelled. I did learn, but the bruises on my knees spoke loudly, so I decided to set my eyes elsewhere.

A concert of failure

So when I tried to take a picture of the moon and it didn’t turn out well, I felt a bit deflated. I rehearsed the various things I’ve wanted to do and failed. The temptation to feel like a failure over a small thing, like a picture, dogged me for a minute.

Sigh. I wish it had turned out better. Reminds me of when I tried to…

But I reeled myself back. The route of wishing it had or “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve” is an enticing path to take when feeling deflated. But it doesn’t lead to strength. This trio, the “CWS Singers” (this is how I refer to them in my head) have a commonality. They aren’t a singing group that holds concerts for the masses. They are a trio that plays a concert of failure in our minds. Their audience is an audience of one.

Two concerts

There were two concerts advertised in my head when I tried to take a picture of the moon with lackluster results.

1. The I can never do anything right tour featuring the CWS Singers. OR
2. The I can do all things that I need to do tour featuring the Heavens Heroes Choir.

This second group of singers on tour, the Heavens Heroes Choir (again, this is how I refer to them in my head), is made of a group much larger than a trio. Hebrews 11 lists 16 heroes of faith, if I counted correctly (but if I missed something, please correct me). Theirs is always a song of faith that, instead of pulling you down like the CWS Singers’ songs, lifts you to believe.

Many lofty aspirations

Returning to my story about taking a picture of the moon, does having faith mean I’ll be talented in everything? No, because God makes everyone unique with their own set of talents. Could I learn how to take better pictures? Maybe with a solid course on photography, I could. But I can’t take classes on all the things I want to do, there’s not enough time or money for that, because I have many lofty aspirations.

But there is enough time to have faith when the CWS Singers are singing songs of doubt. The act of having faith is often more difficult than taking a course (of which there are many on the subject). We can read and study for years, but having faith requires more than what we manage to acquire as knowledge in our heads.

Embracing what we cannot fully know

Having faith requires us to set aside our understanding so we can embrace what we cannot fully know while on earth, God as our Father. You’ve read before how God is our Father (Jesus even taught us to pray to “Our Father” in Matthew 6:5-14). A good father on earth cares for his children. He provides, guides, and corrects with only the well-being of his children in mind. Our fathers here on earth are flawed because they are human. They will fail us no matter how well-intentioned they are. So then, how much more will our Heavenly Father, who is perfect, provide, guide, and correct us with only our well-being in mind?

He is a good Father and only wants to give us the best. He’s so good that it’s impossible to understand His goodness with our limited human abilities fully. But if we can turn our hearts toward Him and ignore the songs of the CWS Singers, we will begin to see and experience just how good He is.

Stay tuned for more of my escapades in lofty aspirations. I’m working on gardening, maybe I’ll be a famous gardener?