The grassbur is an unlikely fellow for a positive attitude analogy. Grassbur is the common name for several grasses which produce burs with multiple sharp spines. Grassburs are hardy and often thrive in rugged environments. Their primary mode of dispersal is through their sharp burs traveling on animals, people, or in the wind. The bur itself is a type of capsule which usually contains one to three seeds. So where am I going with this?

Let’s think about a couple of different viewpoints when it comes to grassburs. There is the grassbur’s strategy: they are opportunistic in sticking to anyone or anything and spreading themselves around. There is also the perspective of anyone who gets tangled up in a patch of grassburs: grassburs are a common and often painful part of many excursions.

My grassbur attitude is made up of a couple of foundational tenants. I desire to be purposeful in grabbing hold of everyone with whom I come in contact and seek to spread seeds of faith, hope, and love.¹ I also understand that finding the photographic scenes that are most rewarding, often requires handling setbacks and irritations along the way, and the attitude with which I choose to handle those situations is completely up to me.

Check out these exhorting words from an old poet:

“Life is before you! from the fated road

You cannot turn; then take ye up the load,

Not yours to tread or leave the unknown way,

Ye must go o’er it, meet ye what ye may.

Gird up your souls within you to the deed,

Angels and fellow-spirits bid you speed!”

                                                                                                - Butler

This is it! This is life and we are living it. Butler’s “unknown way” is full of both happiness and sadness, gain and loss, beauty and thorns. All the elements that make up the human experience are found on life’s journey. We can try to play it safe and not be too reckless, not travel too far—try to avoid any grassburs. Or we can run with an adventurous abandon down life’s path; embracing the joy, peace, and trouble that meets us there.

The grassbur attitude says, “Yes there will be pain but there will also be joy in the journey and important work to do along the way, and the joy and meaningful work make the whole thing worth it.” ² We choose our attitude. ³ We decide on which elements of life we will place our energy and focus. We determine, to a great degree, how our life will go. I appreciate the wisdom and words of Pastor Charles Swindoll:

“I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude is that ‘single string’ that keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.”

The grassbur attitude affects my outlook and artwork because it is the filter with which I view the world and everything in it. The grassbur makes a good logo for Palo Duro Creative as the grassbur attitude holds true in my life and for Palo Duro Creative.

Join me, and let’s live in discovery.  ~ Landry

¹ 1 Corinthians 13:13 ~ “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

² Romans 8:28 ~ “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

³ Psalm 34:1 ~ “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”