Chronicling Moments

The text came early in the morning.
It was from my son-in-love to the entire family.
Multiple times each day, someone sends something on the family text.
It is a fun way to stay connected.

Often, as I read a text, I find myself laughing out loud.
Whenever pictures are sent, I save them to my phone.
This text filled me with so much joy.
This text was a short video that my son-in-love took that morning.

I saw my daughter walk into the nursery.
I watched as she approached the crib.
Inside the crib was my precious granddaughter.
So small now, but all too soon the crib will not contain her.

There she was wrapped in her sleep sack.
I heard my daughter’s voice softly greet her sleeping child.
I knew that there must be a reason for her to wake her up.
My son-in-love captured these moments for all of us to see.

I heard the tiny baby noises that every mother cherishes.
I saw the sleepy little face as my daughter lifted her little daughter out of the crib.
I saw my daughter kiss her daughter on the cheek.
When my daughter kissed her cheek a second time, my precious granddaughter smiled.

I saw my daughter’s heart melt because her little girl was so delighted to see her.
I watched as my daughter went over to the changing table.
She talked to her sweet little girl the entire time.
It is the voice my granddaughter heard for nine months; it is the voice she knows so well.

I watched my daughter pull the Velcro apart so that the sleep sack could be opened.
The sleep sack is almost like a little cocoon.
It keeps the baby swaddled all through the night.
The swaddling helps the baby feel protected and safe.

As the Velcro opened, my sweet granddaughter stretched her arms way over her head.
She smiled and looked into her mommy’s eyes.
She was awake.
She was ready to greet the morning.

I was so grateful to my son-in-love for sending this video to all of us.
We do not get to see those moments unless they are shared.
I thought about the ease with which technology makes it possible to capture these moments.
Right at our fingertips, at any given moment, we can capture a moment in time.

I thought of when our first daughter was born.
Cameras still had film that needed to be developed.
Film was dropped off at a photo lab; your pictures could be picked up in less than a week.
There was no instantaneous anything.

If you wanted to share a picture, copies of the photo had to be made.
Those copies were given to the person for whom they were intended.
Those copies were sometimes placed inside a card and sent in the mail with a handwritten note.
Nothing was immediate; everything took time.

By the time our first daughter was walking, we bought a video camera.
We thought it was so amazing that we could take movies of our child.
Our camera was big and bulky and needed to rest on our shoulder.
It also had to be plugged into an electrical outlet so we could not move around freely.

My husband had all the movies taken though the years transferred to DVDs.
How exciting it was to have them since they were so much more convenient to watch.
We were delighted with each improvement.
We thought that each improvement made our life so much easier.

We could never have dreamed that our phones would one day be our camera.
We could never have dreamed that our phones would one day take videos.
We could never have dreamed that we could instantaneously share things with others.
We could never have dreamed that our entire photo library could be on our computer.

We captured many moments but we missed many moments as well.
Developing film cost money.
Making copies of favorite pictures to share could be costly as well.
Waiting to see your pictures was hard; if they did not turn out, there were no retakes.

Ease and convenience are no longer the issue.
Privacy is the most important thing.
Being able to share pictures and videos does not mean you must.
Every moment does not have to be chronicled, but every moment must be lived.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-13)

Technology makes it easier to capture a moment in time.
I am grateful for that, especially with sweet texts that show my granddaughter waking up.
Life must be lived, not behind the camera but in front of it.
Moments captured must first be moments lived.

God has made everything beautiful in its time.
It is important to share that beauty with others.
Sharing the moment is secondary to living the moment.
You may be able to look at a photograph but you can never live that moment again.

Chronicle wisely.
Capture moments if necessary but enjoy them first and fully.
Looking at life through a camera lens does not give you the full picture.
There is a time for everything.