American Goldfinch : Clearly Blurred Love
American Goldfinch
This is an American Goldfinch. Photographers often calibrate their cameras so the photo’s subject is in sharp focus, and the background is blurred out. This particular combination causes the eye to focus more intently, undistracted. Until I took up photography, I was completely unconscious of this explicit technique, but I’m sure I must have absorbed photos in this intended way. As I’ve studied more and learned about how to guide the eye, there are times when I too now consciously decide how I want to present a bird. There are instances for full context or, as here, with the background giving just the subtlest hint of surroundings. Here, his beauty is dramatically enhanced by the focus set against the blur.
On Friday night, as Shabbat enters, Jews offer up the Shema prayer, an anthemic credo - short, simple, and stunningly profound. To do so, we first recite two preparatory prayers to focus our minds and attention on what is to come. This preparation - even if implicitly - helps us to forget the unsettled aspects of the secular week. We transition away from the mundane to the sublimely eternal. Strikingly, the theme of the final lead-in prayer is love. It is a covenantal love defined by attention and observance, rewarded by eternal commitment. This is a giving love, targeted and directed. We blur away material distractions and focus intensely on our eternal core values. Love for and from God concentrates us.
Defining “love” is a challenge well beyond my capabilities. What I can offer, though, is a thought on loving behavior. Confidently, I can say focusing intently - on a person, on a project - demonstrates love in a way that scattering attention or indulging distractions certainly does not. To be attentive - fully attentive - is often the most loving gift we can give. Conversely, there are times that a bit of gentle blur reveals our caring. (Overly) precise memories or (excessively) scrutinizing inquiries highlight (unhelpful) details, rough edges creating mutual detriment. As we consider this Goldfinch and the Shema, may our eyes and souls be guided by love, as it both caringly, thoughtfully blurs and focuses.