Glory

I was browsing through the web site of my friend, Tim Householder, when I came across one of his photographs that I find particularly brilliant.

 

Please click this link to see the full-size version.  I'll wait.

(Note: Looks like Tim took down the photo...  I think you can figure it out from the description below.)

This photo has a great David Lynch quality about it.  It portrays something mundane and normal but with a heightened feeling of reality that pushes it into slightly surreal.  There are so many things that I like about this photo.  First, there is the subject matter.  We have an award for the "Best Exhibit of Canned or Dried Beef" and it was won by a piece of beef that was both dried AND canned.  How could it lose?  I also love the composition of the photo.  By providing a wide view of the can on an otherwise empty shelf, I can imagine either of two things.  One, that this is a very big honor, and they want to make sure it is shown, or two, that this is a small, pathetic county fair with not enough exhibits to fill a shelf where a ridiculous piece of beef jerky in a used jelly jar can win a prize.  

As much as it is easy for me to act like some "big-city snob" and make fun of a jar of dried beef, for some woman in Yuma County, it's a big deal.  She worked hard, perhaps for years, to perfect her beef drying recipe.  Or perhaps it's a young girl who did this as a 4-H project, and it's her first award at the fair.  Either way, it's something significant in their life.  It's something they are proud of.  It's one moment of glory for them.  

Every day we pass by the glories in other people's lives and usually don't even notice.  And most of the time, they don't notice ours either.  Sometimes, if we're lucky, we do notice.  Every time I pass by a wedding party I think about how, even if this is just an average day for me, it's a day those people will never forget.   Likewise, on the special days of my life, it's just an average day for most of the people in the world.  I think it's important to be happy in our glories, in our victories, and in our accomplishments, even if other people don't notice or don't value them.  We should also try to keep our eyes open to notice the glories in other people's lives.  Because it's nice for them to have those things recognized, and it's good for us to be reminded that there are so many glorious things in the world.