I turned 42 this year, 3 weeks ago to be exact. The older I get, the more I realize that I am not young anymore. Things get further and further away from my ease of understanding. I have to read the instructions a little more, I have to watch a YouTube video to understand how to take cooler pictures with my new phone––not my new camera, but my camera on my phone. Crazy things like that!
This week I was having a great conversation with a good friend of mine. In the conversation she made a statement that I have pondered all week long. She said, “It’s like the pictures that we used to take on the 36mm Camera and never got developed!” Ouch! I remember that as a kid. My mom would take a roll of film to be developed, and to our surprise they were of Christmas 3 years prior. The memories came flooding back. Sometimes I remember thinking, “Where did that toy go? I really love that thing!”
I wonder if one of the reasons we love digital cameras so much is that we do not have to wait as long to get the picture back. We get the convenience of the “Here and Now” photo that can be immediately texted, FaceBooked, Tweeted, Instagram-ed, or Snap Chatted literally for the entire world to see within seconds! Instead of the wonder of the moment, we now fall prey to the wonder of when I will get the text, receive tweet, look at the post, etc.
There is very little developing anymore. Pictures and moments are a dime a dozen, but developing goes only to the pictures that we want to frame from the big events of life. Almost as if to say that we would rather enjoy the big events, than get through the times in our life when God is really doing the fine tuning and the development of our character.
You know Jesus, loves developing, especially of our lives. In Romans 5:3-6, the Bible says,
“3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
I love this, because each little moment in life produces something that is better than where we found ourselves the moment before. He is truly developing us into the person He longs for us to be, better yet, the reflection of Him that we were developed to be!
Keep taking the pictures, but keep yourself ready for development by the Master Photographer!