Don't Miss the Forest for the Trees

One of the hardest challenges in nature photography is distilling a chaotic scene into a handful of elements that tell a cohesive story. In other words, the natural world is messy, and the photographer's job is to make sense of that mess.

Case in point: on my recent trip to West Virginia, I chose to photograph fall color primarily. It’s one thing to look at a canopy of trees with our human eyes. But taking that view and making it into a two-dimensional image is another.

There's an old saying: "Don’t miss the forest for the trees."

The idea is that we can get so caught up in the details (the trees) that we miss the bigger picture (the forest). In truth, I had to focus on the details in West Virginia. Shooting only a vast section of woods is visually overwhelming. Instead, I wanted to focus on small sections of forest. I wanted to find shapes and lines amid the broader landscape. If I may, I think we can (I'm speaking about life now) get so caught up in trying to see the bigger picture that we forget that sometimes we have to get into the details and do the work.

But I want to expound on the phrase. We often forget the bigger work God is doing, and focus instead on the moment—one that may or may not be very pleasant.

James tells us to count those unpleasant moments as joy (James 1:2). We can do so because we know God uses them to prove our character and grow our faith and godliness—if we respond rightly, that is. And to what end?

“… that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:4b

Paul reminds us in Romans 8:29 that God is making us like Christ, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren (believers).

The Bible consistently tells us that God's will is being accomplished. He's not simply responding, and He isn't making it up as He goes. He has a bigger picture in mind, and that extends to our lives.

So often, though, we're caught up in each moment. We don't see the cumulative effect of those moments, or the greater work that God is doing.

In photography, each shot is one part of a greater whole. It’s part of a body of work. I guess we should recognize that our lives are like that, too.

Of course, we have a part to play; I don't want to diminish that. But God won't be thwarted.

So as we remember that God will finish His work in our lives (Philippians 1:6), let’s also remember what James says:

“And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:4