Daily Photo Parable

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, February 8, 2025

If you glanced at yesterday’s Daily Photo Parable (just scroll down if you need to), you noticed a library study booth with caution tape around it. I took that photo while sitting at my favorite study spot, a long counter with a formica top.

As I sit there, I can swivel my head a quarter-turn to the right and see this decorative wall which separates this counter from the rest of the library. Normally, the library patrons on the other side of the wall are quiet, but once in awhile I hear the interactions of a tutor and what sounds like a six-year-old boy. I’m always careful not to show the close-up faces of those I include in these Photo Parables, but if you look through the wall’s center hole you’ll see the forehead of the tutor. Through the quarter-hole at the lower right you’ll see the brown hair of the boy.

I’ve seen them two or three times, and the tutor sometimes listens as the boy reads a story to her. It’s clear that he likes her and seems to be doing his very best. (It might also help that his dad is reading a book a couple of tables away.) Other times she’s showing him vocabulary flash-cards. A couple of weeks ago he was dutifully pronouncing his way through a stack of these cards, saying the words with surprising rapidity. Suddenly, he enthusiastically announced, “I’m rollin’!”

Did you know that Jesus has provided the perfect tutor, One who will patiently guide us as we read the Bible, and put its guidance to work? Listen as the Savior introduces Him:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26 NKJV)

Want to get to know this Tutor better? Click the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/holy-spirit

Caution!
Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, February 7, 2025

This past August at our local library I noticed caution tape barring the way to this cozy study-booth. This booth (and the one next to it, which as you see currently is occupied by a sleeping patron) is quite popular with teens, but for the time being they were prevented from using it.

For awhile I couldn’t see what was wrong with the booth. But then I noticed the gap between the right maroon cushion and the backrest. Evidently the cushion had come loose, which might have caused back problems for someone sitting there – and maybe especially for a teen who had decided to fling his or her body onto it.

Since then it’s been solidly repaired – three teens were doing schoolwork there this past Thursday – and it’s a great example of how this library has been designed for all kinds of students or other kinds of library consumers. There are easy chairs, there are individual desks, there are computer terminals, there are study rooms with closable doors, and there’s at least one long counter with stools, on which you can spread out quite a bit of research material. (This is my favorite spot.) In other words, it’s a friendly library.

And of course our library has a lot of resources, electronic and otherwise. It’s what makes it seem such a safe place to me.

You probably own another kind of library – which grows friendlier and friendlier the more time you spend there. It’s your Bible, which contains 66 separate books, and the guidance of a librarian known as the Holy Spirit, who was responsible for inspiring and arranging its writings. Check out the links below . . . .

To read the Bible through chronologically this year, click this link:

https://bellevueadventist.org/chronological-bible-reading-plan/

To learn more about the Bible’s books, click this link:

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/books-of-the-bible

Next step – read! Get into a “you-friendly” setting, maybe even your local library, and absorb these Books of timeless wisdom.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, February 6, 2025

While I don’t enjoy shoveling snow, there are a few satisfying things about it.

When the snow shovel leaves a nice clean track without an icy layer, it feels like there is hope that people and cars can pass safely. An icy layer often means more chipping and scraping to clear the way. A clean track also helps the snow to melt faster because the ground warms up faster to melt nearby snow, and water can find a way out.

Snow is nice and clean. It often makes me think of God’s righteousness and the good things he asks us to do such as love each other. I like the following verses.

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 33:4-5

I hope that political figures consider this and other guidance from the Bible about how to treat our neighbors. There are too many examples in history of how people should not be treated, so we have plenty of knowledge about what is good and bad.

It looks like there are a few more inches of snow expected for this area, so I’ll plan to shovel a few more tracks and think about God’s love.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, February 5, 2025

What you can’t see in this image is the snow hanging on the tree branches, as we have about 3 inches on the ground from a recent small “storm.” When you have cold branches, and the warm rays of the sun rising behind, you can see the results — a fog casting shadows. It’s a beautiful start to another day God has given us.

There is something truly special about a sunrise, especially one as dramatic as this. It fills me with hope and belief in a higher power. As believers, we understand there is more to this spinning planet. We know how it was created and how it is being cared for. We hold the promise of something greater beyond these beautiful sunrises. Until then, He blesses us with the beauty that surrounds us.

Seeing this scene reminds me of the 1848 hymn – “All Things Bright and Beautiful”

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

I can’t think of truer words. God is good and cares for each of His creations. It’s a wonderful thought to fall asleep to and even better to wake up to a beautiful sunrise the next morning.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, February 4, 2025

The words beauty and symmetry almost go hand-in-hand, not synonymous but so closely linked they seem inseparable. It’s the reason why we are drawn to a snowy mountain’s mirror image reflected in a glass-smooth lake. Perhaps that’s why John alluded to the Sea of Glass as he sought to paint for us the ideal picture of what it will be like to experience the New Earth.

We see symmetry on display throughout nature, often in bilateral form as displayed in the outstretched wings of Heliconus melpomeme , a long-winged butterfly of the American tropics. Each half seems to mirror the other half, bringing balance and beauty to our awareness. We see this same idea of exquisiteness displayed in beauty pageants where the winner is judged to possess perfect proportions to perfection.

Amazing as it might seem, each one of us is encouraged to display this same kind of beauty, a reflected beauty that has no equal. Take Paul’s word for it: “But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 Living Bible) Isn’t that amazing; you, I, can reflect a mirror image of Christ. And to top it off, we are promised that that beauty will continue to grow – perfection, continuing to grow.

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Cheryl Boardman
Monday, February 2, 2025

I saw these sego lilies blooming on Tubbs Hill in Coeur d’Alene several years ago. This is a great place to do a loop trail (half of it along the lake shore) and there are lots of different kinds of wildflowers in the spring and early summer.

Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

Luke 12:25-28 (The Message)

Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, February 2, 2025

I enjoy Christmas trees, ours and others. If I were in your home, gazing upon your tree (no, I don’t expect yours is still up, although ours is), I would like nothing better than a tour of your tree. I want to hear the story behind your ornaments.

I hope you are like-minded, because I want to give you a partial tour of our tree. Let’s make it an “I Spy.”

Do you spy:

1) The ornament I made in grade school? Hint: it’s a Styrofoam ball with random décor poked into it. #WhatWasIThinking

2) A Teddy bear named Theodore? My bedtime stuffed bear companions were Theodore and Sluggo. My father named them, and would weave fanciful stories in which Theodore was the perennial hero and Sluggo the bungling villain. Sluggo is also on the tree, but out of camera view. My father would think that was appropriate.

3) A mailman dressed in dark blue, holding an envelope? This little wooden ornament honors the way my husband and I met, after a mutual friend gave him my address and letters began flying back and forth between Nebraska and Alaska.

4) A red truck in a snowy scene with a Christmas tree on board? This ornament is special because a good and talented friend crafted it, knowing I liked the fabric’s artist.

5) A church? Centered on the tree, and central to my life, all these years.

6) A needlepointed candle? Another hand-crafted gift, this one is from a batch of six that a beloved boss stitched for me forty-three years ago. A brilliant teacher, administrator, mentor, and European Study Tour leader, she volunteered every Sabbath as a greeter at the Kindergarten Sabbath School door.

7) David and Goliath? This one is new this year, discovered in a little nook in a secondhand store. It says: “Then said David, ‘This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand.’ And David took a stone, and slang it, and David smote the Philistine in his forehead and slew him.” I think of this as our “slang, smote, slew” ornament; I believe it’s the only violence on our tree.

8) Two girls together, one with an apronful of apples? A long ago gift from one of my dearest friends, who just recently moved into a memory care unit. She still remembers me when I call, but I brace myself for the day she doesn’t. And I comfort myself with the fact that when Jesus comes, our minds and bodies will be fully restored – even upgraded.

9) Three hearts? There are many more on the tree, because, as Christina Rossetti’s poem says, “Love came down at Christmas.”

10) Two wooden nativities? One is from my oldest sister; she bought it in Jerusalem where they traveled while on vacation from their mission tour in Kenya. This is our first Christmas without her. The nativity reminds me that Jesus came, not to give us a food-filled, fun and festive holiday but to give us eternal life, with reunions galore on Resurrection Day.

Yes, I know today is Groundhog Day. Maybe next year I’ll track down one of those critters, ask it to pose for my camera, and write about it. But this year, I’m thinking about our Christmas tree, and all the memories I see amidst the colored lights. As I’ve mused on them, I realize they’re not just memories; they’re blessings.

I spy God, Giver of all good gifts.