On Wednesday morning I had to get to work early to shoot a religion assignment focusing on Chaplain Kandi Mount at Bella Vista Medical Center in Bella Vista. I was to be there by 7:45 a.m. to get a photo of Mount gathered with the clinic’s staff delivering the daily devotion, a voluntary gathering for prayer and spiritual inspiration. Chaplain Mount was very accommodating and a pleasure to work with for the hour and a half I spent with her. As the clinic’s chaplain, Mount’s job is to offer spiritual support to the staff as well as the patients, some of whom might be just learning of a potentially life-changing or life-threatening illness. It’s a role she credits as a “gift from God.”

Here are some of my favorite photos from the assignment. The story was published on Dec. 17.