Bluegrass Romance

I don’t memorize too many prayers. I try to keep holy dialogues flowing, conversational, unencumbered by someone else’s words. But Saint Teresa di Avila has a prayer that is too good not to repeat. In fact, I repeat the whole thing* daily, and one of it’s lines has become a personal mantra for me. That line goes like this:

“May I use the gifts I have been given and pass on the love that has been given to me.”

I love this prayer for it’s simplicity and I love it for the way it empowers me to think not of what I can’t do it help others, but what I can.

Mini-mission no. 7, “Doing something good for your community,” is all about this prayer in action. I may not be able to feed or clothe, heal or minister, but I can take a good picture. It’s a humble gift, but it still might be used for the greater good.

As for the second part of the prayer- the passing on of the love part- I have a lot I want to share. 2009 was a year my son and I were given much love. Our family grew to include a husband for me and a father for Lucca. Mr. Cecil’s role in our lives became official and in our little house on the wrong side of the tracks, the one thing that is not lacking is love.

The idea for Love in Lex came to me during Mini-Mission No. 2 (proof that personal adventures can be as good for inspiration as they are for mental rejuvination). I was singing along to the Across the Universe and there came a vision for a free city wide photo shoot to celebrate love: What if I offered free portraits to everyone in Lexington on Valentine’s Day? What if the event could somehow benefit local single moms?

The next morning after more prayer about it, I told Mr. Cecil about my idea. He was behind me one hundred percent and even in the days ahead when I started doubting if I could pull it off, he persisted as my cheerleader.

I went to work planning and organizing the details and during the next couple weeks everything fell into place: Babycakes Cupcakesimmediately got on board, and chapioned the event like a hero. Vespa partnered in it too and Buster’s agreed to be the venue. Step by Step Ministries, for the amazing good they are doing in the lives of young single moms in Lexington, was chosen as the charity.

The photos you see throughout this post are some of my favorites from the Love in Lex event this past Sunday, Valentine’s Day 2010. At the end of the day we raised almost $400 for single moms here in Lexington. It’s small, but it’s something, and hopefully next time I’ll be able to bring more people on board to help make the event an even bigger success for our charity.

What I am most grateful for is the happiness taking these portraits gave me. It’s a gift that keeps on giving right through the editing process. Working thorugh the RAW files last night I had a constant smile on my face. Seeing love in pictures is like vitamins for the soul. If my photography is the gift I can give my community, it is also the gift my community gives back to me, by way of the joy that comes from creating each portrait.

Thank you to all who made time on their Valentine’s Day to celebrate love with us and thank you so much to all the local businesses who took part to make it happen. You can check out all the photos from the Love in Lex event on my Flickr account.

P.S. I hope to make doing something good for the community via portrait events like Love in Lex a regular occurance. If you want to be sure not to miss the next city wide free portrait event to benefit charity, please join the Morgan Day Photography page on Facebook. I’ll keep you updated there!

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