I learnt a new word at the weekend, and as always was very excited about this fact! That word was ‘bokeh‘, and relates in particular to photography, apparently meaning ‘the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.‘ Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light” and is often used for effect by photographers, rendering parts of a photograph blurry while keeping other parts sharply in focus:
Photographers often use this effect with lights:
It struck me on having this crash course in photography that life is rather like this effect: much of it seems blurry from our limited perspective, but is crystal clear to God. Often, our confusion in life stems from our inability to see the ‘whole picture’ at once. Fortunately, God has no such problem!
‘From where I’m standing,
Lord, it’s so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You’re leading me.
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can’t control.
When I’m lost in the mystery,
To You my future is a memory,
Cause You’re already there,
You’re already there;
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You’re already there
You’re already there.’ (‘Already There’, Casting Crowns)