In front of the lens

The wonderful thing about working with Photoshop at work every day is that I can salvage some photos that might otherwise been snipped away from the rest of the film negatives and discarded, I can take a normal exposed photo and enhance the tones throughout the image, I can add people who weren't originally in a group photo, I can subdue some wrinkles and I can work on those annoying red-eye and glare on glasses from the flash. It's rare that you can push me in front of a camera. So when I read Jane's journal entry and saw my face front and center, I wanted to pull out my Photoshop tools and correct some of my obvious flaws. I can do that! (I've done it before!) I can whip out the paint tool and add some color to the gray, stamp out some of the lines under the chin, and smudge a little off the sides of the neck to make it look thinner. Lately people have been asking me whose ID I am wearing at work because the ten-year old badge doesn't match who they are seeing. Well perhaps they should get their eyes checked! I don't see the difference! It's not just the appearance of gray and pounds that make me avoid the camera, I've been that way as long as I can remember. Luckily I was the third child in our family and the frantic need to capture childhood on film had been eased by the older two. Hopefully search and rescue teams won't ever have to try to find me as a missing person because they might have to rely on my high school senior photo, and even I'll admit I don't match that photo.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You have made us each beautiful and unique with our own flaws, and our own strengths. We are not each made as a high fashion model. You know of each gray hair on our head, each chipped tooth in our mouth, each scrape on our knuckles, and love us still. You know who we are created to be, what we are capable of becoming, and how we can help further your missions. The questions remaining are when and where? Those questions can be answered or averted by our own flaws and strengths. Help us to welcome our assets and work around our faults to respond to your call and love in our lives. Help us to stand in front of your cause and accept our part in the picture. Amen.