Feed a Starving Man Bubble Yum, and He will Still be a Starving Man.

I woke up, and as per usual, I turned my computer on and began browsing facebook.

When I scrolled down and saw this version of Imagine by Pentatonix:

I realized I had never really listened to the words and thought about them, but this morning I listen…and I grew more and more sadden as the verses spilled out.

Imagine there’s no religion — for the sake of having peace and unity?

“False religion”, I growled under my breath, as I closed my laptop to get ready to head to work. While I fully intended on leaving these thoughts safely closed away with my laptop while I headed off to work, they followed me there.

Recently, I had a discussion with an individual about how christians never follow christian ideologies of love, charity, and the example of Christ. That there are so few actual christians that the name Christian is spoiled and that those who are truly Christ-like should find a new name to call themselves and do all they can to disassociate from the vast masses of those who call themselves Christians. Others have echoed this, saying they have never been more judged or hurt than by so-called Christians.

I apologized. I can’t undo what others have done or said, or failed to do or say. I said can offer them the chance to interact with a Christian (myself) whom I hope that they will find different than those who have caused them pain.  I always offer the disclaimer– I am likely to hurt them too. I’m human afterall, but I am (and pray to remain) different than those who use religion as a means of control, of one-upping, and nothing short that bullying.

I felt that familiar crumbling-sinking within my chest– oh how many hurt people are there?

Taking a deep breath, now behind my work computer I catch a whiff of something my brain reads as artificial grape flavor. A memory flashes in my mind.

Grape bubble yum. The taste. The smell. The mouth too-full, tired. The memory came back to me, and danced in the spaces around my aching heart and searching mind that was carrying with weight the thoughts of false religion.

Fake grape. Fake religion.

Both may taste sweet to the partaker. Both come in a form as food, but offer no sustenance.

Don’t get me wrong. Bubble yum was delicious, as I remember it. It was soft and easy to chew……just….like…force fed false religion.

False religion often comes with a set of directions, easy enough to follow and understand. Don’t do this, or this, or this. Those who do this, or this, or that are sinners. They are bad. Save yourself by not being like them! It seems to promise, that by completing these directions you can earn your sustenance. Your salvation.

(no, most don’t cognitively recognize this — they will say they believe that only Christ saves through grace — but that’s not how they live, behave, or speak). 

Still pondering the thoughts, one more begs for entertainment — “feed a starving man bubble yum, and he will still be a starving man.”

Christians, will you feed the starving man?

…if they are muslim?
( …budhist….hindu….etc?)
…if they are LGBTQ?
….if they are black?
…if they are an addict?
…if they are a prostitute?
…if they are a felon?
…if they are a murder?
….if they are in some way different than you?

Will you love them? Do you believe and live by a love big enough to love them?  Jesus went to eat with and talk with those that were different. His example to us is one of non-judgemental love. The love is what changed-and changes- people, not judgement and shunning.

So, if you have a mouth full of bubble yum (false religion), spit it out so you can speak love into the lives of these people. It isn’t feeding you anyway. You are the starving man, also.

https://twitter.com/MuslimIQ/status/848744792481824770

(if that is too hard to read visit: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/muslim-lawyer-shuts-down-troll-christian-isis ).

Don’t be bubble yum.

…I have a feeling this is “part one” as I’d like to dive into what love means in different situations.

PS: Found this on the topic of being a scientific minded individual and believing in God– thought I’d share it with you:

Maybe I should Come Back Home

I’ve been writing over at rebeccaturkblog.wordpress.com but I don’t know if it is the best fit, or if staying here is better. I don’t have a huge following here, but I have basically none there.

The reason I’m conflicted is because I bought my name as a domain, and hope to build a website. I just don’t know where to go from there. What do I want the website to look like? How will I monetize what I’m doing in order to make the website pay for itself (and potentially bring in money)?

Things I need to figure out soon…

Finding Your Voice & Talking While Invisible

I hear it all the time, “really get focused and figure out what you want your message to be. Find your passion and speak it out loud. Find the message that you were born to tell, and tell it.”

Sure, that took some years of testing my thoughts, my passions, my skills…and sure, I’m still learning daily.

However, I have found that it is far more crucial to find your persistence. To find the strength and stick-to-it-ness to keep sharing your message when you look around and realize no one is listening.

You may have to try changing the words, your platform for distributing your message, and you may have to try to find another audience. However, even when you make these changes you may find yourself speaking to a virtually empty auditorium.

Maybe your aunt or mother or sibling showed up out of a sense of duty and pity, so you keep speaking since someone is there, and you keep hoping someone else will walk through those doors.

That’s when you determine how much you believe in your message.

I believe in mine still, and the auditorium is empty.

A Dream Team

A few days ago, as I was falling asleep an idea popped into my head. I can’t really call it a new idea, because it has come to me in bits and pieces of wishes and dreams over the year.

I was in that weird half-asleep phase of thought, so my thoughts were more visual than normal and dreams tried to crowd out thoughts, and what I visualized were a group of friends, co-artists, working side-by-side combining their talents–though admittedly varied–to create something with value.

Art, creativity, writing with substance that communicates messages of “you’re enough” and teaches valuable life wisdom. Our efforts would pour out love and hope into the world, showing others that they can make a difference too, no matter how little they believe they have to give.

What I am envisioning is a collaboration, most often focused on writing pieces, but who take times to create art to push the boundaries of what they believe they are capable–proving that together we are better than one on one. And together we can make a difference.

Open Letter to My Camera

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Dear Camera,

I am sorry to inform you that the art that I create with you appears to be subpar. These images are ignored, or if they are appreciated, individuals expect to receive them for free. Knowing that I put my heart, experience, and education and significant financial investments into the photo-taking process, my only conclusion can be that you are holding me back.

Now, don’t get me wrong. You are a perfectly good camera. I love you with my whole heart, but there is something about the union of you and me, that fails to create beautiful respectable art. I know I push your buttons, but that’s how our relationship works, and the only way we can create art. I’ve tried my hardest, creating blogs and Facebook pages to display our creations, but they fall upon an unappreciative audience.

For these reasons, I’m giving you an ultimatum. Either we figure this out together and create beautiful art that has impact, or I’m going to have to let you go. I am considering my prospects with Pen, as perhaps writing is the path I should take to creating art. This is your chance to prove me wrong. So, please….prove me wrong.

You have my word that I will be trying to make this work, the ball in in your court now. Remember, it might be good to give me a gift when you try to woo me back. I have given you at least 6 lenses over the years, and from you I’ve received no more than $100 total from various small gifts of print sales. I do not mean to sound rude, but I need to know that I am loved too. 

Love,

Rebecca Turk

(the one who holds your hand and pushes your buttons)

Ps. I will be eagerly awaiting your response, and hopefully anticipating our next long walk on the beach at sunset. I do love you, dear Camera. I have included some our our images here to remind you of where we’ve been and what we’ve created together in the past.

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk [prints available for sale upon request]

© Rebecca Turk [Photo prints available for sale upon request].

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Textured Layers of Beauty

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Life is full of textured layers of beauty, insight, inspiration, & demonstrations of love. Pretend it is “I spy” and see what you find. It may surprise you.

© Rebecca Turk
Prints Available;

Property of Rebecca Turk

I love looking for Art in Nature.

Property of Rebecca Turk

For there, in nature, hides art unseen.
Camouflaged in verdant greens.
Without knowledge you may lose your chance
One rushed step, one unfocused glance,
And the art will vanish.

© Rebecca Turk
Prints Available;
Prices are for unmatted/matted

Where have the Wild Places Gone?

Where, O caretakers, have the wild places gone,
the miles of green, the echo of birdsong?
Where, O stewards, are the laborers of love?
What exactly is it that we’ve done?
-Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

I cannot claim to be an outspoken activist. I am not. I have nothing to show as credentials and know but a small bit of the reality of destruction to our planet.

What I do know is, after a recent trip to Florida, I found it very hard to get completely natural shots because of litter and development. While I admit, I didn’t go into any deep forest hiking, I was at parks that were meant to be nature-filled and full of beauty. I understand the development of parks. They give the average person accessibility to nature–something I would not have had without them. What I do not understand, however, is disrespect for nature. Look at the pictures I share here. Can you spot what is wrong?

Property of Rebecca Turk

People who know more than me about issues of the environment, also warn of farm run off, diversion of natural water flow, deforestation in prime migratory paths, and ignorance of where our products come from and how they are produced, among other troubling things. I realize that I likely cannot learn about all these things, it will take different people with different passions to go after their passion. Changing the industries and mindsets bit by bit so that no one person has to know it all and challenge it all.

That doesn’t mean don’t be mindful of your impact in diverse applications, nor to ignore anything that isn’t “my passion”. You see, I had discounted many of these photos because of the trash that had snuck into the images. Some I took because of the contrast between natural and manmade.

what never connected for me, until now, is that most of the bodies of water had signs warning you not to drink the water. I had merely thought, “I wasn’t planning on it….” but now, as I go through the photos, I realize that these animals ARE drinking from it, eating from it, raising their families around it.

Property of Rebecca Turk

In fact, at one location I found a pile of bird droppings. In the droppings was a long brightly colored piece of plastic. It brought to mind that clip I saw once, of birds who had died and when you examine their stomach you find handfuls of human trash–mostly plastic.

Here are a few of those photos I mention. As best I can tell this is for water being drained off so water levels stay low enough for surrounding housing developments:

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

Morning at Eagle Lakes Park

Property of Rebecca Turk

This park was my favorite. If I had discovered it earlier, I would have spent almost all day every day. There was a lot of bio diversity, and it was just beautiful!

© Rebecca Turk
Prints Available

There were Gators There.

Property of Rebecca Turk

Property of Rebecca Turk

© Rebecca Turk
Prints Available;