It Takes Time

Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time. ---Georgia O'Keeffe

We're in the throes of planning for our Dream Assignment, and everyday in between phone calls and meetings and researching leads to stories of hope around the world, all I can think of is this quote and the tiny field full of buttercups staring back at me from the other side of the driveway out my backdoor.

It takes time, a still quiet voice tells me from the deepest place inside.

Time?? my monkey mind chatters. I want to hop on a plane now!

But my beginner's mind knows better.  For every prize winning rose bush and sensational lead, there is a meadow of buttercups and a hopeful story waiting to be unearthed. A story as simple and as certain as a buttercup in May.  A deep and honest story that can only be seen when I make time to really pay attention to what's happening around me.  When I'm willing to stop.  When I'm willing to listen.

Breathe, my better self advises.  Everyday things are coming together, little by little--exactly as they should.

And so I walk to the grassy knoll on the other side of the driveway, and gather up my yellow treasures in a little bouquet, each one reminding me that hope endures, that it can be seen in the smallest ways, in the tiniest places, if I have the courage to let the stories come to me, one simple yellow flower at a time.

What are you waiting for today?  Show us what you're taking the time to see right now as you look through that hope-full lens.

Picture Hope: Gathering Images for the Journey

Picture Hope: Gathering Images for the Journey from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since we first announced the Shutter Sisters Picture Hope Dream Assignment. Since that time we've watched in total awe as this community and our friends around the globe have taken this dream and skyrocketed it to the Name Your Dream Assignment Top Ten.The outpouring of support has been nothing short of phenomenal.

If you haven't voted yet, it's not too late. Vote hope now, and when you're finished, come right back and pick up that camera. Because we are convinced this community like no other has a heart for hope, every single time you see through that lens. Add your images to the Picture Hope Flickr Pool and watch with us as our dream unfolds into hope notes in hand and a way to make it really happen--no matter what happens when the contest ends. How hopeful is that?

Will you take Picture Hope to number one, sisters? Vote here (if you haven't already) and invite everyone in your circle to do the same. Registration takes just a minute, promise. Voting ends this Friday at midnight.