Uphill idealist

Since the news last week of the shooting in CT, I've been skimming over the grief. A good friend of mine stated, that it wasn't possible for her to look at the photo of the 20 children and 6 adults that lost their lives. I can't either, as least I can't if I stay in this space of skimming.   The extent of this loss and violence makes me feel as if I might drown in it. I don't want to really see it. I'm fearful that it will pierce my heart in an inconsolable way. And then I'm only looking at this loss from arms length.  I did not know any of these people personally, however this kind of loss cuts all of us to the quick. Children and adults that were full of life, hope and promise; were taken away. This kind of tragedy just shouldn't happen.  My dear friend Becky send me this Psalm this week to be a help to me. She gave it to me as a reminder of how God in the way that only God can - work in the midst of tragedy, call others to help

. Photos have an amazing way of bringing back old  memories  don’t they? No matter if you collect them in Albums, Scrapbooks, Facebook or Instagram – photo sharing is an important way of telling your families stories in a concrete way. You can point to and talk about who is in the picture, what they were doing and why that moment in time is still important to you today. Photos tell us not only what we were doing then, but what group or community was important as well. When my family was young, each summer we would take a photo at the photo booth at Midway Park. Over the years, we collected these strips of photos, and my husband created a collage. This collage (above) is one of my most cherished possessions. It reminds me of those early days, reminds me of how small my own children once were and continues to give me hope for the future. Pictures that we take at church have to same power to help us remember who we are and carry hope into the future days to come.