by Dona Hake
I have shared with you many times that I am part of a wonderful photography group where over 22,000 people are members from all over the world. I feel blessed to be a part of such a great group of people that daily share their part of the world in images. The other day our prompt for the day was ~home~. Wonderful and beautiful images were being shared as each participant shared their interpretation of the prompt. But one stopped me, and touched my heart like no other. Her image was unreal and very sad. The image was her home from two years ago. It showed not only her home but her car completely destroyed. It looked to either be some kind of very bad fire or possibly an explosion. Many asked her what happened but she never did tell. Obviously it must had been too painful to elaborate on. All she wrote was
“My home 2 years ago. It makes you realize home
is where family is, not the building.”
There is an idiom “A picture is worth a thousand words” which refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. This is so very true. I could not stop thinking how horrible of a thing she went through. The more I thought about it my heart rested on the importance of being thankful for what really matters. The image and her words told me that she realized to a deeper degree what family really was and what it was not.
Today I encourage your heart to remain thankful for the smallest of things. Many times we can get tempted to think that certain things are way more important than what they really are. God desires that we be thankful and value the things that really matter in this life. Thank God today for all that the Lord has done for you and for those that He has put in your life to walk along side of you. These are the blessings that can never be replaced and we need to be ever so thankful for them. I leave you with this wonderful scripture…
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ERV)
“Always be full of joy.
Never stop praying.
Whatever happens, always be thankful.
“Always be full of joy.
Never stop praying.
Whatever happens, always be thankful.
This is how God wants you to live in Christ Jesus.”