My friend posted a few photos of her son with Santa this morning from years ago. It reminded me of a photo of Paxton with my nieces the very first time he sat on Santa's lap. He was definitely not having it and no matter how hard we tried, he cried harder. She made a comment that the lady who did the photos asked her if she wanted to try again, and she declined saying that "imperfect"photo was perfect.
We used to rely on film that had to be developed before we could see the results. Now many of us are consumed with these digital images that can be browsed, deleted and taken over and over until we end up with the results that we WANT, not the natural way that things turn out- whether good or bad. Some even elude to special filters to make them crystal clear and "perfect" before we post them. Media images, social media and all these tools have led us to a world of picture perfect images that don't necessarily paint an accurate picture of ourselves, our mood and even our personalities sometimes.
Many desire the positive comments, the compliments and the uplifting satisfaction of the nice things people say about us. My family recently had our family photos taken. When we received them back, my first instinct was to pick myself apart! I am not in the best shape of my life, my hair was out of place in some, my smile has always been a little crooked, I only really like one side of my profile... as I was doing this internal self talk, I looked deeper at my smile, my family and my happiness and decided that many of these photos showed my love for my family, my blessings and my happiness in most categories of my life! I decided that this is what makes a photo a great photo, not our size, our shape or the position of our stance.
These family photos portrayed myself where I am at in this point of my life, not 10+ lbs from now, hair that lays perfectly or a smile that would be chosen for a magazine ad. That is me being critical of myself! There were photos I posted that were just ok, and some of those had more comments than the ones I thought I looked a lot better in. It made me realize that others are not as critical of us as we are of ourselves. This means that we need to look deeper into who we are, what we stand for and love ourself a little more, giving ourself grace and acceptance, just as others do and most importantly God sees us.
So yes, this photo isn't the picture perfect result that some of us parents would have liked to put in that Santa Christmas frame, but it is how things played out and it is the memory that we will cherish over the photo that will have us talking about for years to come. Watch out Paxton, this one might make your graduation photo board or slide show in the near future, but for now, stop growing up so fast. -Love Mom
"But the Grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I , but the grace of God that is with me." Corinthians 15:10
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