For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39
Well, the
presidential election is over and there is much to comment on – still.. The commentary that is closest to my heart
rest not in the politics, but in the pictures of our beloved first family. A picture is a powerful image frozen in time;
it is framed emotional memory that has the power to stoke all five senses. A picture can never depreciate its value to
its beholden. I have rather enjoyed sifting through photos of the Obama family
during the election cycle. It’s offered
me a glimpse into their lives and into the heart of who they are as a family. Flipping through photos of the first family
makes me think about my own family photos.
I wonder what the outside world sees, feels and thinks when they look at
pictures of my family. I think that pictures convey very powerful
messages. Sometimes those messages are
intentional, sometimes not, but always left to the interpretation of the
viewer. When I look at the Obama family
photos, to me those photos say, “together we are a strong, close and loving
family; our bond is cemented in the secure love that we share.” Even in their “unscripted” photos, I observe
that one of the first family’s strongest languages of love is physical touch;
they express love towards one another through touching – i.e. holding hands,
arms around waist, hugging, head-on-shoulder, etc.... If I had to caption my own family photo it
would say, “...nothing can separate us
from the love of God.” I chose that
caption because disability has made several attempts at wreaking havoc in my
family’s life, yet we have prevailed. As
I look back over my life in family photos, I remember the humbling beginning of
our journey with disability. I remember
being camera-shy about exposing my “different” family to the world; I feared an
unwelcome reception. Going public with
disability was not easy for my family. Often,
I felt stares and side-eye glances upon us.
And what was meant to be a whisper was audibly, and painfully,
loud. But in some ways, I suppose going
public through pictures may be worse, for you can only assume what people are
saying about you and your family. In the
early days of disability, I took great care to hide Malachi’s life-sustaining equipment
from the watchful eye of the camera. I tried
to carefully tuck away the huge oxygen tank that sat in the corner of his room mocking
me. I tried to distract the camera’s eye
from the ventilator tubing that coiled and hissed endlessly like a snake. And I tried to perfectly prop Malachi up as
if his scoliosis were invisible. Let me
tell you, it’s exhausting and frustrating trying to hide from your own reality! And then one day I released it; I just let it
go. I decided, why hide? It is what it is and we are, undeniably, who
we are. Regardless, people will make
their own deductions and assumptions about our family with or without a
photo. What’s the point of worrying and
hiding? We just need to show up and be
our most authentic, dazzling selves!
How we show
up in photos is how we show up in real life.
I am so grateful that my family and I have grown to the place of no
longer feeling vulnerable in front of the camera. I think that growth is a result of accepting
that we are made in the image of God!
God sees the beauty of our uniqueness because after all, He did create
it. And because we are made in His
image, we are a picture perfect family!
QUESTION OF THE DAY: How would you caption your family
photo?

6 comments:
Yes indeed! Love it! Joycie
My caption would say: It doesn't alway appear how it is!
Twana
I know that you too can appreciate family photos because your family has ALOT of them!
Thank you, Joycie!:)
Dena
Twana,
To that end I say, rarely does it ever! Pictures do reveal ALOT of who we are, but not everything. I think we are our most vulnerable when we stand in the presence of God.
Dena
Wonderful column. When I see your family portrait, I see love, happiness, strength and courage - all gifts from the Lord.
Thank you, Lolly :)
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