This fabulous image is of one of my favourite places to be.

The photo was taken by John Ivory and he has kindly given me permission to use it.

It is the road to Sally Gap in the Wicklow mountains. I can’t count the times I’ve driven up that road. I used to take it as part of the scenic route to the Bible College in Greystones, on my own in the early morning. I also used to drive up there with friends having the laughs, listening to loud music. I’ve taken it with American visitors, showing off my beautiful country. Also used to drive up there often with himself to relax, chat and pray in quiet.

I’ve taken loads of photographs of it too. But I’ve never been able to capture the view the way John has. When I saw the photo my first thought was… ‘THAT is what it looks like!’

I have a theory about photographs… which may land me in some hot water, but hear me out.

I think the reason we love our own photos is not because they reflect what we saw, it’s because when we look at them, we see our memory of the actual scene. Not the captured image, which is usually substandard. We remember how spectacular it was and the photo helps us to do that, but the photo itself doesn’t reflect the spectacularness (and yes, I am making up words to prove my point), to someone who wasn’t there. I reckon the reason we don’t love everyone else’s photos (and they don’t love ours…) is because we don’t see what they saw. We see a vague resemblance to what they saw. And that’s all they see in our pics.

Photographers have a way of capturing a true reflection of an image, which I think John has done brilliantly here with some of these other photographs of the same area. (Also used with his permission.)

I was talking to Rich the other day about Heaven. What it might be like and what eternity will feel like etc. I said that no matter how hard I try, or what books I read or even what Bible verse I read, I cannot get my head around what Heaven will be like. It’s like I’m actually incapable of conjuring a good image in my head or a realistic concept of it.
I remembered the verse in 1st Corinthians that says,
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

So it actually makes sense that I can’t conjour up the image.
Even if I did, it would be a poor reflection. But as the Apostle Paul says later on in 1st Corinthians,
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. 
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…”

oh and If my photograph theory is right, then even John’s photo of those mountains is only a reflection (albeit a fabulous one) – you’ll have to take yourself up there to experience it first hand 🙂