How One Vinyl Christmas Record Shaped my Photography

When I was a child, Thanksgiving Day evening through New Years Eve you would often see me sitting on the living room floor singing at the top of my lungs and surrounded by a scattered pile of Christmas records, record sleeves and jackets. I would position myself where on my one side would be the Christmas tree adorned with lots of lights and even more ornaments and on the other the stereo cabinet system that was as large as our couch. I believed that all spare time between school and Christmas festivities was to be spent singing through the pile of records as many times as possible. I am sure my mother was glad when I moved out of the house and she no longer had to endure this yuletide tradition. Those were the good old days!

One of the Christmas records that I listened to the most was one put out by a group called Agapeland. Agapeland was known for it's Christian themed children's musicals. Though I had several of their albums, the one that was played several times through the Christmas season was one called "The Birthday Party." It was about a collection of people coming together to celebrate Jesus' birthday and bringing gifts. This was made extra special because of my parents getting the children's Sunday School department a birthday cake for Jesus every year. There were two songs from that album that became formative in the philosophy that guides my photography.

One of the songs that impacted me was the primary character singing about his search to find the perfect gift for the King. I mean really! What gift do you give to a king? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were already taken. And if you think your grandmother already has everything, can you imagine if you are trying to get a gift for the King of the Universe? "Hmmm...should I get Him a sweater this year or should I go with the new IPad?" In truth, there isn't much you can give the One who created everything. Yet, how can you give everyone else gifts at Christmas and ignore giving something to the one whose birthday you are celebrating.

The other song that stood out for me was of a little ballerina singing about how her gift to the King was her dancing for Him. If I remember right, she was the miniature ballerina inside of a child's jewelry box and when the lid was opened she sang and danced her heart out. This song encouraged me to spend hours upon hours thinking about how I could give the gifts and talents God had given me right back to Him as my gift. I thought about this so much that this idea became core to my faith and how I live. I want everything that is within me, whether it be a song, my hobby, or my career, to be a gift that I bring to the King's party. And since Christ is not bound by time, that party is always being celebrated even beyond Christmas day.

Being the smart people that you are, I am sure you have already figured out how this ties into a photography website. I am in the mood to be verbose so I will spell it out anyhow. Photography for me is all about the Creator, His creation, and how I can use these gifts and talents to worship Him. I don't make a pretty ballerina who can dance and sing, but I can push the shutter button on my camera and process some pictures. I can make sure that my time doing photography is a time of worship and that the pictures (to the best of my knowledge) are used in a way that honors Christ. This is what I can give to the King.

As I step out of my time of reminiscing and go back to the hectic pace that the Christmas season so often brings, let me leave you with this one question...So what are you giving to the King this Christmas?