I took this photo on Saturday, and when I took it I immediately thought about Lent.

One of my goals this lent is to work on accepting God's love myself in my personal life. I've noticed over the last few years that when I accept more of his agape (self gift) I can give more of me to them than I could before.

I know it sounds funny, but it really is true. I see this in the lives of many saints. Little Mother Theresa is a giant in what she she accomplished because of this very lesson. So if I can do this on even a small scale in my life, maybe this could help my family more than I ever could going it all alone.

So even though the world crushes us with all it has to make us harden our hearts towards God, we have to fight that. We have to get a peace in our lives that can only come by keeping hearts unlocked to his spirit's love.

Might be a neat idea for you to try as well!

-EHW

PS Pentax K-5 with DFA-100WR, post in Aperture. I used a combination of global contrast, definition and brushes for detail, and polarization.