Against the Grain

Earlier this year, in July I believe, I entered my second photo contest, which was held annually by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. The photo contest required that you submit a photo that followed one of three subject phrases: Beauty from Ashes, Journey's End, and Against the Grain. I was going to go with Beauty from Ashes at first, then Journey's End, but I finally settled on Against the Grain, because I had an idea of how I could portray that subject in a Christianish way.

The photo I actually submitted didn't have the Scripture verse on it, but that was the verse my photo was based on. "Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'" (Matthew 16:24, English Standard Version). What Jesus says just sums up to me a life lived against the grain.

So I made a wooden cross in the workshop, and took it out to a field near our house. I stood out there trying to get this picture for a LONG time. The sun was getting lower and lower, but finally I got a photo that I was satisfied with.

It may not have been the most stunning of sunsets, but the sort of simple sunset seemed almost to make the photograph better. I didn't get anything in the photo contest, but the photograph has become one of my more favorites because it gives a picture of how Jesus said His followers should live.