I thought I'd try a "Selfie", a word I heard on The Voice last season. The winner apparently liked to use her phone and take pictures of her self! I thought it was cute. Normally, I hate getting my picture taken. I avoid a camera like the flu. I have worked at a university for 30 years and probably have my picture in about 5 of the yearbooks. The year before last my sister-in-law said, you know, we don't have many pictures of you! Well, it was by design. I've had my share of bad photos. I'm not photogenic. I read once that Abe Lincoln commented on a photo of himself: "There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes." Really?? Well, he was honest Abe. Owe it. Sometimes my face does look like this picture. Right now, as a matter of fact, since I just took this picture. My thoughts? What was I thinking when I picked those frames? Do I really have that many freckles? Or are those……no, it can not be, ….AGE SPOTS!?!?! I can't wait until I have to get another driver's license, because my last photo at the DMV proved I should shun cameras as much as possible!
But, photos help me remember, and photos remind me of a time never to be again. And sometimes never to be again is a very good thing. I'm so thankful I don't have that perm that made my head look like a triangle, or wear mini shirts like everyone else in high school that showed my knobby knees. And yet, I enjoy seeing my family and friends from years ago. I still (sometimes) think of my nieces as the two little girls in the photograph with the blue and white matching sailor dresses. I had that picture on my desk at work for years. They now have children of their own. I have a picture of my one-year old nephew with his arms open wide and the biggest smile with a little drool about to roll down his chin. He is now a freshman in college. I have pictures from my trips to Europe, Hawaii, and Mexico. Places I'll never forget, but places I'm sure have changed as I have changed. Everything changes - that's the one sure thing in life, change. Except photos. Photos don't change. And this picture of myself? It captures a face that looks like me sometimes. This picture will not change over the years, but I will. I pray my next picture will be a photo of a women closer to God, wiser, and has great glasses. 