CORRECTED: The Pictures We Don't Show

Sorry that some of you received the post earlier today that wasn't the correct version!  Our internet wasn't working properly!  Here we go again:

“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looks on the heart.”

-1 Samuel 16:7b

Last weekend while I was out of town, Meade and my dad took John and Daniel to a local mall to have their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny.  This wasn’t just any Easter Bunny; this was the “Caring Bunny” who came to take pictures with children with special needs and their families.  The Bunny came in the morning, before the mall opened, to limit the sensory stimulation/overload for these children.  I am really touched these types of events exist.

Here is the best group shot:

However, here are just a few of the many “failed” attempts at capturing that perfect memory:

These pictures can make me cringe.  Not because of their precious subject but because of what these pictures represent… the difficulty, the pain, the waiting, the longing, that aching hope.   

The lack of head control, poor posture, tight arms, low tone in the face and trunk, the temptation to compare to other children his age…

These are the pictures we typically do not show.  Not because we aren’t honest but because so often we want you (and ourselves) to see past the pain…. To perceive the joy we have, to know John’s smile and personality, to grasp the blessing he is in our lives and to so many.  But also, we feel it is our duty to help John put his best foot forward in a world that already is set up to have so much going against him. 

And yet the reality is in both the smiley pictures and also the messy ones… hope realized and hope still waiting.

How often do we only put our best foot forward?  Presenting only one desirable side in our Christmas cards, on Facebook, in our blogs and email updates?  Striving to portray an illusion?

And yet we are reminded this week that Jesus displayed his messy pictures.  His tattered clothes.  His blood stained hands. His lowly posture hanging from a cross.  All hope seemingly lost. 

But He chose to publicly reveal Himself this way.  His outstretched hands.  A death so that we might have life.

On this week and always, we thank you Lord that you didn’t feel the need to put “your best foot” forward.

Happy Easter!   Christ is risen, risen indeed!

We are truly blessed!

"By his stripes, wounds, and mess, we are HEALED!"

Isaiah 53:5