I’m an amateur photographer and love all the creative things I can do online with the images I share. When I first began experimenting with my photos, I got a little wild with all the different effects. By adding different filters, I could completely change the look of a picture.
Where once an image was sunny and bright, I could bring it down to look dark and gloomy. I could also do the opposite. I added frames, embedded graphics, even melded two images into one. The options were endless.
But once the new wore off, I found that my favorite images were the ones that looked most like real life—with little or no effects applied. The ones that captured that moment, without embellishment, brought me the most joy. Those unadorned pictures were also the ones that garnered the most attention online. They seemed to bring out the best conversations.
As the mother of a military son, God whispered a parallel truth to me about my own life. So often, when I shared things about how things were going in relation to having a son at war, my tendency was to apply a filter.
For his sake, I wanted to appear strong. Often the truth was much different. And I was well into his first deployment when I realized how much I needed to be real with those around me.
But the times when I was most honest about what I was feeling, were the times when I connected deepest with those around me. Those moments of transparency and realism were when God came in and touched me—and touched others through me.
I took away this truth from that experience and it’s never let me down—when I’m most vulnerable, that’s I’m most valuable to the kingdom.
