Give It Up So Big...
Last week I was watching American Idol and Steven Tyler spouted some wisdom which I immediately posted on facebook.
After posting this gem on my page, it stayed with me for days, and naturally I began to think about how I could capture the sentiment on one of my album pages. I truly believe that God is present in every living thing and that sometimes we just have to work harder to see Him, so logically I believe that we can all show God to the world if we think about it. Along these lines I decided that I would scrapbook this along with a picture of the place where I most often see God – coming through the eyes of my children!
Then I went to Mass on Sunday, and the priest spoke about our duty to bring the “light of God’s love into this world of darkness”. I immediately thought back to my chosen quote of the week. Of course if we are letting “God come through our eyes” then we are spreading the light. This is easy to witness when you are with someone getting a hug or the recipient of a good deed, but how can we capture that light to brighten dark times when we are alone or to share with generations to come? Naturally faith is about believing that we are never truly alone and the light is always present even when we can’t see it, but the reality is that as human beings we like to have something tangible to hold. So here again I immediately thought of my kids and our albums – what better way to give my children a way to hold on to the light that is within and all around them?
It will be no surprise to any of you that I believe my family albums are one of my greatest gifts to my children; an expression of love & hope that will build self-esteem and a sense of belonging. Now, I look to take this a step farther & make sure that they are also an expression of “light in the darkness”. For me this means taking the time to document some of our challenges as well as the fun times and including my faith in more of my messages.
So, my challenge to you (and to myself as well) is to see your albums as this wonderful tool to let God shine through your eyes and give those you love something to hold on to now (in darkness or fun times) and to share with those they love in the future. So let us all “give it up so big”!
