Life and Death

As I shared in my last post, I am now the proud owner of a Canon 600D DSLR. I have been out taking photos and each week will share with you some of my favourites. This week my photos come from a weekend I spent visiting family in Goulburn, particularly photos of the beautiful local Catholic church.    

While churches are intended to be welcoming, with their ‘doors always open’ to people wanting to find God, their doors are often heavy, ornate, closed and sometimes slightly foreboding. Since moving away from religion I now find the structure of churches even more fascinating, as I contemplate the messages they send to ‘outsiders.’ I find church doors and statutes, particularly on Catholic churches, immensely interesting. I like the confidence these structures exude, the hope they promise, and the sanctuary they offer. However, I can’t help but also feel deeply distressed by the things that happen behind the doors of some churches.                                                                                              

The pairing up of this church building and the next shots of cherry blossoms has meaning to me beyond the mere fact that they were both found walking around Goulburn.

The cherry blossom tree holds special significance in my life as it corresponded with a dream I had not long after my Dad passed away two and a half years ago. No longer a believer in the Christian faith, and no longer sure what I felt about the idea of heaven and hell, I was trying to work out where my Dad might be now he had passed away.

One night I dreamt that I saw my Dad and he was in Japan and behind him were cherry blossom trees in full bloom. He didn’t say anything in the dream but I felt reassured that he was safe, happy and possibly travelling the world in some soulful way. I found out later that the cherry blossom is symbolic of beauty but also of sudden death as its flowering season is so short.

Considering that my Dad passed away unexpectedly and quickly, I found great comfort in the idea that things we love can come and go and that it doesn’t change their beauty or importance in our lives. Since that dream I always love seeing cherry blossoms out in all their beauty.  

                                                        Check out what other people are up to this week at Our Creative Spaces.