Remember the Barbra Streisand song “The Way We Were”?
“Memories light the corners of my mind.”
Those lyrics came to mind recently when we decided to go through a box of old photos and slides. (For you younger readers, “slides” are a pre-PowerPoint way of displaying photos to a group.)
As we sorted through the box, we found photos from when our children were small that reminded us of precious times. Other pictures included people we don’t even recall, and many of the slides were so washed out we could not tell who–or what–was in them. That made it easier to decide which ones we would have digitized for posterity. But I felt a slight twinge when we threw out the “rejects.” It
I thought, too, of the thousands of photos taken with cellphones now that are saved to the cloud and never see the light of day–unless they’re posted on Facebook or Instagram. What will our great-grandchildren have to browse through to see what we were like? Of course, there’ll be plenty of digital photos and videos for them to view, but will they take the time? There’s something restorative about sitting with family members and looking through old photos while talking about old times.
I’m just glad that my heavenly Father saves all the “good” photos of me and discards the ones I’m ashamed of because Jesus wiped those away with His blood.
He has not treated us as we deserve for our sins
or paid us back for our wrongs.
As high as the heavens are above the earth—
that is how vast his mercy is toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west—
that is how far he has removed our rebellious acts from himself. (Psalm 103:10-12, GW)
