Christmas Tree Bow

Small Details

A red bow decorates our front porch Christmas tree, illuminated by the lights on the tree. This bow is just one of many that are on our tree on the front porch.

Because of where we live, many people do not even see the our front porch decorations. And I am sure that those who do see the decorations do not even notice that there are red bows on the tree. But that is okay. Laura likes putting the bows on the tree. And if you do happen to see the tree, especially during the day when the lights are off, the red bows do add some color to the green tree.

Sometimes those little details might be missed by most people. But those same little details are important to those who know about them. And that makes things even more special.

I am sure that you have little things that you do for Christmas that the rest of us would never notice or think much of. Watching a favorite movie, going a favorite place, eating something special at your Christmas meal, or some other tradition that is meaningful to you. Those kinds of things may not seem like much, but they certainly make the holidays more special to those who care about them.

Don’t neglect the small things. Because sometimes they might seem to be big things.

Major Minor Details

The other day in a boys’ Bible class, we were reading the story of the birth of Jesus. As we were reading, we got to Luke 1:30. An angel had just suddenly appeared to Mary to bring her some great news. She was afraid, but then we read, “Then the angel told her: ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.’”

For most of the times that I have read that, I just passed right over that verse. But for whatever reason, for this particular time it jumped out at me. What better thing could you be told than that you have found favor with God? That should really be the goal of each one of us. That is what we strive for. And here, Mary had an angel appear and tell her exactly that.

It may not seem like that much to us when we read all of the story, but I bet those few words were a big deal to Mary. Maybe they gave her some comfort during the difficult days, such as having to lay her newborn son in a feeding trough in a barn. Perhaps she was wondering if the angel really meant what he said. But of course he did. He would not have said it if he had not meant it.

Just a little detail of a large story, but something that we all hope to hear one of these days. And then it will be a big detail when we do hear it.

Bible Verse

Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. - Luke 1:30-33

About the photo

This photo was taken at the same time as the front porch photo from an earlier post. Not at the exact same moment, of course, but the two were taken within a few minutes of each other. I know it was a few minutes because it was getting cold and I did not spend a long time out there.

However, these two photos have very different looks to them. One of them is a wide shot of the whole porch, and the other is a close-up detail view of a bow on the tree. One looks dark, and the other looks bright (thanks partly to the processing techniques used on each one, by the way).

These photos were taken with the same camera and the same lens, but with some different settings used for each one. One of the things I have always enjoyed about photography is how you can change things up to get all sorts of different looks. That is very evident in these two photos.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: November 29, 2018
Location: Home, Williston, Tennessee