Positive Impact: Jocelyn Mesiti

Positive Impact is a weekly spotlight that focuses on individuals and organizations who improve the lives of others. It is a direct challenge to the constant negativity  of the modern era— a case-in-point for hope and compassion. For each Positive Impact segment, we ask guests to answer a few questions and share their message with us.

Jocelyn Mesiti, in one word, is joyful. Her love for God is woven into the fabric of her life from family to business. She has a faithful optimism that seems harder to come by these days (and it's enviable!)

At Honest to Goodness Photo (her photography company), Jocelyn captures the reality and naturalness of joy. Just scroll through her "Pretty Things" page and you'll know exactly what I mean.

It amazes me how readily available happiness is at a moment's notice. That's the power of photography: it captures "normal" moments that transcend normality.

We often take things for granted -- things like our family and friends and even time to ourselves. But you can see it so clearly in Jocelyn's photos; when we are prepared to be present with ourselves or others, God delights us with his gifts. The simplest things really do bring us the greatest joy. 

Favorite sound: 

Picking a favorite sound is gosh darn near impossible for me, since I live in some sort of other dimension in life where I take in sounds like I need them to live.

But if I had to pick a FEW here are some I would say: the laughter of my children, the still sound of silence when it snows early in the morning, banjos and harmonicas, my name when my husband says it, all of the songs that I’ve blared in my car with the windows down at a volume that could truly impair my ability to ever hear anything ever again, haha!

Favorite quotes:




Something most people don't know about you:

I guess something not that many people know is that I kind of really love baseball. There aren't too many things about my upbringing and my establishment of what home was that I'd can hold onto dearly in memory, but baseball is one of those things.

The sound of the ball against the bat, the games on for hours almost like a background lullaby, and the knowledge that if I was ever looking for my dad on those days and nights, he was likely on the couch, making both celebratory and wincing sounds at the screen.

I grew up with a heavy affection towards the LA Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. One of the earliest lessons I can remember learning is my dad teaching me the importance of the underdog, which is why of course, we didn't care for the Yankees ;]

What is the name of your organization?

Honest To Goodness Photography

Tell me about your organization:

My photography business started out of wanting to dig deeper into my passion for capturing people in a real, and honest, light. That there is magic that can happen when we allow ourselves to be just who we are -- not uptight and posed, but dishing love out to each other, shoulders relaxed, and freely laughing.

Who is your role model? Why? 

I have many a role model. I think first would be my in-laws. They have taught me so many lessons. How to carry myself as an adult, how to forgive, how to recognize that we deeply need grace as much as the next person, and what unconditional love looks like.

After that, I think I find pieces of what a role model is inside of many people that I have met who are ordinarily wonderful.

It's when I recognize in people qualities such as courage, strength against the odds, patience, giving hearts, and others that are so hard to come by in this dark world.

As I grow older, I find role models more and more in the Bible. People who fell short often, but left seeds for us to pick up and run with through our walk of faith.

Recently, I've been digging deeply into the visual of Paul imprisoned and still yet, praising Jesus.

I think when we know who we belong to, and what we are here for, it is easier to fix our eyes on Joy than Oppression. Just makes me want to remind myself to sing with a smile on my face when I receive bad news or am tested or would much rather turn to sadness.

Role models, they are everywhere, we just have to be looking!

What message would you like to share with the world? 

That Jesus can make broken things beautiful. He's glued my life back together, and I hope in every photo I take, word I write, song I sing is a tiny glimpse of the Light of the World and eternal Hope.



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