Good morning…
Three thoughts pop to mind as I re-watch the moving video I shared with you yesterday (if you missed it, please enjoy it today at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0).
First, “What will my kids remember from their childhood years?” Will they recall my best parenting moments, my worst parenting moments, or some conglomerate of the two? Often times, photographs help to skew memories in the positive direction since no one snaps a picture when we are screaming at the top of our lungs, manhandling our children in ways we regret, or spewing our own unresolved issues all over our kids. I chuckle at the thought of making a “blooper” video to attach to the flips side of our own family’s highlight reel. Which imperfect moments would we choose for our family’s also-real reel?
Second, I was struck by this truth: not all of us have a large collection of beautiful childhood snapshots to put into a highlight video. Even if select pictures show smiles all around, photographs do not have x-ray vision to capture the inner landscape of our souls. Abuse and arguments. Pain and power struggles. Divorce and depression. Wounds and walking on egg shells. For some of us, the soundtrack of our family would play more like that of a horror film than a tender, touching melody. Our “blooper” reel might be long and loud; our childhood highlight film, in contrast, might be short and stark.
Finally, it is important for us to understand that every one of us has our own un-filmed childhood highlight video and our own un-constructed “blooper” reel, both playing simultaneously in the back of our minds. For some of us, our largest and longest video looks much like the highlight reel created above. For others, our painful childhood “blooper” video could run on and on. Incorporating our own two sided record of the past, with God’s help, we are each given the unique opportunity to create the masterpiece video of our future.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies, Philippians 4:8-9 (MSG),
Sue
