School Pictures

What is it about school pictures that can take a grown adult back in time? Is it remembering having to sit on that dreadful stool as all of your classmates watched you awkwardly force a smile for the photographer? Was it rememebering that anxious feeling you had in the pit of your stomach when the envelope came back and you dared to open it? Was it going to be a good picture that would forever shine in that year's yearbook? Or, like me in 5th grade, would you instantly inherit the nickname "bird face"? As I watched my daughter pick out the clothes that she was going to where for her school pictures, I was reminded about all of this with her simple statement..."This is so important to me."

When I asked the question, "What is your most memorable school picture"?, one lady said, "I remember all of them, even what I was wearing." Mind you, this lady just attended her 30 year high school reunion. I would venture to say that the school picture experience, for many, can be imprinted in our minds forever. If we're not careful, the tape player in our mind can be imprinted forever also. The tape player that says, "bird face, awkward, ridiculous, ugly..."

How do you overcome those recordings? You have to change the tape! I learned a long time ago, that my thoughts about myself are so different then God's thoughts towards me. I had to make a decision to let God's thoughts play over and over again in my mind, not my own. This wasn't easy, because in doing this, I also had to overcome a spirit of insecurity. I had to let go of the past, and let God frame my future with His words.

Ps 139:13-17
3 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!

Do you know what God thinks about you, or are you still letting "old school pictures" form you? Do you believe that He made you exactly how He wanted you to be, and has a purpose for you? God NEVER makes mistakes! Choose today to let his "tape player" make an imprint on your mind and in your heart. You can be a light to a generation of young girls and guys who think beauty is only skin deep, and are devasted, many times for years, when they have a "bird face" kind of day.