Digital Photos and Forgiveness

I was discussing the way digital cameras and digital photos have altered our photographing experience with a friend earlier.  Not only have they altered the way we view photography, they also affect the way we see ourselves.

 

Gone are the days when we had to develop a whole roll of film just to see how many photos were actually 'usable'.  We had to sift through the blurred images, those with a thumb distorting most of the picture, the photos where the subject is off to the side or at an odd angle.  And the red eyes.

 

These days, we can instantly check our photos and see whether or not they 'measure up'.  If we're not completely satisfied and we don't feel that we look good enough, we can improve them and edit them and digitally manipulate them until we are happy.  And, if the worst comes to the worst, we can hit 'delete' and we can get rid of them. 

 

If there's anything we're not completely happy with, we can simply get rid of it.

 

I sometimes wish it was that easy in life, too.

 

But unfortunately we have to deal with the difficult and messy things in our lives along with the beautiful and air-brushed parts too - we can't simply delete the bits we don't like.

 

We can't.  But God can.

 

The Bible says that,

"He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west."

 

[Psalm 103:10-12 NLT]

 

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

 

We can't 'delete' and remove the things that we don't like from our own lives, but when God looks at our lives, He doesn't keep a record of our wrongs - He doesn't keep all of the 'bad photos'. 

 

Instead, He looks on us with immeasurable and unfailing love and compassion. 

 

10,000 reasons

When I started writing my blog, I didn't plan to write every day. 

It just sort of happened. 

 

I kept seeing things throughout the day that were evidence of the overlap between the 'secular' and the 'sacred', the golden and the grey.  I read novels or articles, or heard things on the radio or overheard conversations, or watched something on TV or in a film which triggered my thoughts and helped me to evidence of the sacred in the secular.

Some days I haven't been sure what to write about at all.  But by the end of the day, something has come to me, something has been revealed.  There has always been something more to write about.  There is always more to discover of God and more of His goodness and kindness to unveil. 

 

And there is always more of His work to see in the world around us.

Matt Redman writes in his worship song, '10,000 Reasons' -

"You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find."

 

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. 

 

My heart hasn't got anywhere near finding ten thousand reasons to praise God.  Sometimes I struggle to get to ten.

 

Sometimes I can let myself become distracted by all of the negative or difficult or painful things in life, and I forget to look past them, to the God that I love and who is worthy of my praise, regardless of how I am feeling.

 

I want to be like the Psalmist who wrote,  

 

           "Let all that I am praise the Lord;
           with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
           Let all that I am praise the Lord;
           may I never forget the good things he does for me.
           He forgives all my sins
           and heals all my diseases.
           He redeems me from death
           and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

           He fills my life with good things.
           My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!"

 

[Psalm 103:1-5 NLT]

 

Perhaps when I reach 10,000 posts, I might be closer to discovering all that there is of God and all that there is to praise Him for.  But I rather imagine that as I deepen my relationship with God and strengthen my understanding of Him, there will always be more things to discover, and more things for which to praise Him.