Taking Pictures of Life!

Written in 2022:

There is nothing in this world that I enjoy more than taking a picture of something or someone. The pictures that I take now or have taken many years ago encourage me in my daily life. They were all taken at different phases of my life that I am so thankful for and all good memories. I love looking back at the good times and I look forward to the good times ahead. No matter what time in my life that I look back on my pictures I remember more the joy of that time than the difficult circumstances because of those pictures.

We don't take pictures of the ugly or the mess of life but instead of the moments we want to cherish forever. The pictures we take are wonderful reminders of the joyful times. When I look at pictures of my kids when I was a single parent and all their smiles and our celebrations together, it makes my heart smile. We struggled then financially and emotionally but we still had fun too! The things we did together then are priceless memories that I love to reflect on again and again.

My pictures are a constant reminder of the joy then and the joy now! I thank God for my dad who recorded my entire childhood to remind me of the good family times we all had together. I am also thankful to be able to take pictures of my own kids and grandkids to cherish all our memories together. Most of all I am thankful to God that as I grow older I have become more forgetful of the less than joyful moments of life!

Psalm 30:5b Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

 This is one of my grand~girls popping bubbles on Easter 2014.

Listening

 ... a man of understanding holds his tongue. Proverbs 11:12b

Do I take time to listen? In my own life I look back and wish I had been listening more and talking less. I wish those who misunderstood me listened and heard what I was saying instead of what they thought they heard.  For me personally, talking has gotten me more in trouble than listening ever could. 

I took this picture of a Halloween Pennant Dragonfly while we were watching the sunset across the water in front of our camper.

Leadership

These were chosen from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, heads of the divisions in Israel. Numbers 1:16

God spoke to Moses in this chapter and orchestrated the first census to prepare them for battle. It describes exactly how they were supposed to go about it to see what each person was capable of doing. Tribes of people were chosen for battle and tribes of people were chosen just to protect the tabernacle. The leader was Moses and then there were leaders of each tribe. Everyone knew their position and their job to do in order for victory.

This is how I see the church, the role of our pastors and the leadership. If people believe that God has ordained them with the future and decisions of the church and don't follow the leadership of the pastor then it will not lead their church to victory. Our job is not to conjure up our own ambitions and missions for the churches we attend. We are to follow our pastors and his leadership. If we feel they are wrong then it's our job to pray for them because I believe God can make any wrong be right.

God has given us political leaders, parents, bosses, etc. and if this same truth is applied it will bring blessing!  

 This is a picture of a young girl leading the elephant at the circus that I
 attended with my grandkids on November 9, 2012.