Photos of Life

Gretchen Smith

10/25/2022

MSW, LISW-CP

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:16

I recently deleted many (probably 100) photos from my phone. That is a turning point for me. I have dozens of photo albums and have trouble letting go of any memorabilia. I am of the generation that received a 110 camera for my eighth-grade graduation and remember having 24 pictures on the film cartridge. I had to be choosy about what, where, or who I took a picture of. There were no bursts and few multiple poses. Then I had to send off the roll of film to a photo lab, waiting with anticipation to see which pictures turned out. So many blurred heads were chopped off, and random pictures went into the trash. There were no immediate deletes. Fast forward 48 years - I now have a phone that takes pictures too! I still love to take pictures; thus, I ran out of storage in my recent deletions and didn’t want to fiddle with the cloud storage. It is funny; my grandsons are so used to getting their pictures taken they say cheese as soon as I point my phone at them! I don’t know how many candids we’ll get from this current generation! Photos help us remember and sometimes pause in disbelief, “Is THAT how I looked?” “He was SOOO small!” “I’ve been to that place five times - why do I have so many pictures of it?” Unlike us, God doesn’t need a mobile phone or other devices. God is sovereign - He always sees it all - the photos of our lives from beginning to end. As believers, we can be assured that we are carved in the palm of His hand. What about the times when the pictures didn’t turn out very well? God took care of that, too. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God deletes our sins - ALL the bad photos. Enjoy the calming and peaceful assurance that we can rest in His hands as He gazes at us with pure delight!