Plaasabilities

"Heavenly Light" Morning light illuminates the trees at the Missionary Baptist Church in Cades Cove.  Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved This was the featured image on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Facebook page this morning. It's the perfect image for a Sunday morning, especially on Memorial Day weekend when we remember the lives of those lost in the service of our country. This weekend many of us also choose to remember the lives of family and friends that have passed on. And so the illuminating rays of sunlight over the Missionary Baptist Church in Cades Cove speak to each of us and to those no longer with us. It's not hard to feel the spirit and the peace portrayed. This morning my friend, Bryan Nowak, noted that the sunlight looked like heavenly beams. I smiled knowing I had titled this image "Heavenly Light" shortly after the photograph was taken last June. The name is inspired by a sacred ...

"Sun Crest" Sunrise over the crest of the Smokies on a frosty winter morning. Hyatt Lane, Cades Cove. Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas The people that walked in  darkness  have seen a great  light :  they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Isaiah 9:2 Perhaps more than any other time in my life I feel a strong need to focus on Jesus Christ in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas. It's not that Christ hasn't been my focus in the past, rather I need to feel His love and celebrate His birth more consciously in order to get through my first Christmas without my mother. Mom was the bright light in our family and our family's celebration of Christmas. Jesus Christ is the Great Light. Because of His birth, atonement, and death I never have to walk in darkness. There will be shadowed paths, to be sure, but never utter darkness as long as I am faithful and obedient to the commandments ...