Snapshots of Faith
When my mother was passing from this life, I sat by the bedside and made what I called “mental snapshots” of her. I looked intently at her face and her beautiful white hair. I stared at her hands thinking about all of the hard work they had done, and how tenderly they had cared for me.
Recently, not long after the seventh anniversary of her passing, I began to look around our congregation and see some “snapshots of faith” that exist within our spiritual family there.
I saw a woman named Bette slowly make her way into the building on her walker. She was dressed for warmth even though the temperature outside wasn’t all that cold and the inside temperature was warm. You see, she is very thin and frail, and her steps are very slow. She sits in the foyer on one of the soft seats and we keep a small electric heater directed at her. She lives in the nursing home now and is dependent upon someone else for a ride to worship. Her husband and her two children have preceded her in death. She loves hugs and they are handed out plentifully. Recently when I told her what an encouragement she is to me, she replied that her mother told her to put God first and always go to church. Bette is one of my “snapshots of faith.” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Prov. 31:30).
I looked across the auditorium and saw Morris and Jeanne. They are approaching their 70th wedding anniversary. I have observed their tender looks at one another, and their care for one another as they enter and leave the building. They are a delight to talk to because they always have a funny story and they really listen to whatever you may share with them. In a world full of people who don’t recognize the sanctity of marriage, they are a “snapshot of faith.” “…Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Eph. 5:33).
I sat in a ladies’ Bible class made up of women of all ages and watched those women listen intently to young girls as they presented their speeches for Lads to Leaders. At the end of class, those seasoned women showed me another “snapshot of faith” as they praised those young girls on a job well done. In so many ways those older women follow Paul’s admonition in his letter to Titus for the older women to teach the younger women.
I saw a woman named Peggy come to worship services on Sunday having just attended the funeral of her beloved husband just days before. Living just down the street from Peggy is a lady named Alta Mae who lost her husband several years ago. She is confined to a wheel chair but comes to every service she can along with any activities she is able to attend. Both of these ladies are “snapshots of faith.”
I could talk about so many more “snapshots of faith” I have taken just in this one congregation. I would have an album full if I included all of them.
I’d like to encourage you to take some time to look around your congregation and fill your own album with your “snapshots of faith.” You will be encouraged and your spiritual family will become even closer to you in heart.
“…And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” Gal. 2:20
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