714 It's Photo Day

Today is here! The day you’ve been working toward your entire life, and here it is. It showed up as a Monday. Within this day are priceless moments and once-in-a-lifetime offerings. You may not realize it, but today is a totally photo worthy day. When you take the time to snap a photo, you’re essentially saying this is special, this is beautiful, this is worthy of being remembered. And my sister, THAT is the kind of day you just woke up to. Get your phone ready because you WILL want to take a photo of this. There is one single practice that has most changed my life. This is a practice I teach every single audience I have an opportunity to impact. If I’m to inspire a group of people to embrace the ups and downs of life as the heartbeat of their very existence, if I’m to awake a resilience in them to refuse to flatline in their own lives, if I’m to give them one game changing lesson, it is this … GRATITUDE PHOTOS. For over 11 years now, my life has been radically changed by the simple practice of taking a gratitude photo. Yes, every single day of my life for since July 2009 has been documented in a daily gratitude photo. And I mean EVERY DAY. There were a whole lot of hard days within those 11 years. The day my daughter attempted to take her own life. The day my son left for the Army. The day I held Daddy’s as he took his last breath. And yet even on these monumentally hard days of life where my path was through the valley, there was something to be grateful for. A tinge of bliss, a moment of preciousness, a reason to be grateful. And each day, I’ve decided that’s what I want to remember. And to remember, I take a photo. At the end of each year, I compile the 365 photos into a 1 minute video. Moments frozen in time flash every quarter of a second, and in a matter of 60 seconds, one full year is complete. Gone. Forever. And I begin to think, even if I live to the ripe old age of 85, all the life I have remaining, documented in this way, would only be 40 more minutes. I think about death every day, because I focus on truly living every day. I believe you can’t have one without the other. You can’t appreciate the preciousness of this life you have been given without the true understanding that it is coming to an end. My friend, you are dying. You do not have forever to do the things you want to do with your life. This is all coming to an end. What if it’s only a 40 minute movie left for you … what if it’s less? Today will become just a flicker in your movie of life. A flash on the screen. What will be remembered about today? If you were to choose one moment to remember, I wonder what it would be? One photo to document today. Could it change the way you go through this day of life if you were on the hunt for that special moment to represent your one and only October 26, 2020? I imagine looking back on my entire life as a movie. A movie much like the 60 second clip documenting a photo from each day of the year, but this movie documents my entire life. The scenes of every day flashing in front of me as my creator stands with me and watches. Then he turns to me and says, are you proud of how you lived? Are you happy with how you used your years, your days, your moments? Ahhh, wouldn’t now be a good time to pause and ask that question? Are you happy with how you’re living this one and only precious life you’ve been given? Are you proud of your days? How about yesterday … how will that one be remembered, or has it already been forgotten with the rush of a new day? Think about that movie of your life you will see. How you lived and what you did. There it is all recapped and flashing before your eyes. Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must...