Swallowing the last sip of tea from a second morning cup, I pick up my phone on the bedside table when I hear the familiar alert. One of my favorite Instagrammers has posted a morning photo. I open the app, scroll through her feed and my mouth is drawn open in wonder. Flowers sprinkled around a teacup on a weathered grey table. A simple photo fuels new ideas for styling a photograph at my desk a few hours later.

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Square. It used to be a word with a negative connotation.  Referred to as a person considered to be old-fashioned or boringly conventional in attitude or behavior; an old fogey, conservative, traditionalist, conventionalist, diehard, conformist, bourgeois, you get the idea. More than an object with four equal and straight sides, to be square wasn’t something to be sought after.  Hopefully, it still isn’t.

Since Instagram, the square has become defined as quit the opposite. Squares are now in vogue.

We are all attempting to cram beauty, story and information into into tiny framed boxes and then see how many people like us. Today, a square means more than an open area where a town gathers, the product of a number multiplied by itself, or an instrument used to test right angles.

A square is used to define culture, beauty, belief, and lifestyle. I know, can you believe it?

Framing your life requires attentiveness to detail; capturing the beauty right in front of you and then translating your viewpoint in as few words as possible.

If you were to frame your life right now, what would it say about you?

Since becoming a serious student of the square on Instagram a few months ago, a whole new world of creativity has opened up to me. God’s imagination is endless.

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Top row: @hannahargyle, @britt_throndsen Bottom: @emilyquinton, @humphreyandgrace

In the same way the eye is drawn to contrasts in a photograph, the contrasts of life enable us to define what we believe. Contrasts aren’t nuanced, they are bold, deliberate and strikingly different. And the way your life contrasts with the mainstream world inspires beauty.

Through a tiny window into the soul of a person’s life, we can see glimpses of where God is at work.  We are all walking the same journey on different terrain, longing to be at home in this big, beautiful world. And the galleries highlighting the moments are marvelous.

One of my favorite pauses during a long day of writing is to grab my phone and open Instagram. A few minutes of perusing beautiful images reminds me that I am not alone and what we each bring to the world has great value.

If you are a visual thinker and imagery curates some good work, check out these inspiring hashtags:

#thatsdarling

#pursuepretty

#flashesofdelight

#thehappynow

#prettycitylondon

#verilymoment

Find me @shellymiller120 on Instagram. Follow our community hashtags #sabbathsociety and #rhythmsofrest and show us how the beauty in rest looks for you.

What inspires you? Add the hashtags you enjoy following in the comments.

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Happy Sabbath Friends!

Want to make rest a routine, not just something you fill in between the cracks of your busyness? Join the Sabbath Society. Follow Sabbath-keepers in community with the hashtag #sabbathsociety on Twitter and Instagram and our Pinterest board, Surrendering to Sabbath.