I have had a huge board covered in hundreds of small photos in my bedroom for years. It's so big that when I moved from my parents into my flat we had to pick it up in the church minibus as it wouldnt fit in a car!
I decided to take it down after many years. The photos were quite old and I wanted to change things round on the walls in my bedroom. (I think I may be growing up!) My wonderful Dad came round and cut it in half with a saw to add to his collection of wood in the garage! The picture board was broken down into family, work, school, uni friends and church/youthgroup friends. The photos ranged from about 1996 to 2003, depending on the 'section'! As I sat and took each photo off they all brought back memories. It was a mixtures of emotions. Happy times and forgotten times. Sadness was brought on by photos of relatives who are sadly no longer alive.
As I looked at pictures from school it made me realise that none of those people are really in my life anymore. All the photos we took on the last days, all the messages we wrote to each other, none of it has really lasted. I am a totally different person now to who I was at school. I do often wonder that if I was who I am now, at school then, would I have had the same friends? Would I have done the same things and eneded up where I have today? Its one of those thoughts that could spiral a long way! I do still see people from school on occassions and the times I had with them will always stay with me. Some of these people I have on facebook, but it still does not mean a lot if there is no contact there.
My uni photos will always make me smile as it was such a happy time for me, the last two years especially. I have made firm friends there that I know I will always stay in touch with, even though we are spread around the UK. There were lots of pictures from the end of uni with people that I knew I wouldn't see again. As it was such a short part of my life I wanted to capture a lot of it in photos through the people I lived with, worked with, partied with and studied with.
The biggest area of sorrow for me is the photos taken with friends I grew up with in church and local youth groups. Its the same story as I am sure that anyone who has been a teenage christian will experience. People no longer walking with God. People we saw living their lives for God, who no longer do. I am in the position where I still know a lot of the people from my local area that I grew up with in church. But it breaks my heart to see them so far from God. If it saddens me, then how must God feel?! Obviously we all have free choice to make our own decisions, but I do believe once someone is a christian it always stays in your heart somewhere.
There has been a lot of change in my life recently and I think this little task today challenged my thoughts even more! As I left my job of five years, a friend I used to work with said that I would now find out who my real friends were. In a busy, tight-knit work environment a lot of false working relationships are made and we mistake it for friendship sometimes.
I have no Gerry Springer style final thought after this long entry. All I would say is who do we consider to be good friends, but don't ever let them know? I know there are people I think about and miss seeing, but don't ever tell them as life ticks by too quickly. Also, with reference to above, I am very keen to not lose current youth I am involved with once they leave school for uni or the working world. This is always 'make or break' time in my opinon when it comes to following God.
I decided to take it down after many years. The photos were quite old and I wanted to change things round on the walls in my bedroom. (I think I may be growing up!) My wonderful Dad came round and cut it in half with a saw to add to his collection of wood in the garage! The picture board was broken down into family, work, school, uni friends and church/youthgroup friends. The photos ranged from about 1996 to 2003, depending on the 'section'! As I sat and took each photo off they all brought back memories. It was a mixtures of emotions. Happy times and forgotten times. Sadness was brought on by photos of relatives who are sadly no longer alive.
As I looked at pictures from school it made me realise that none of those people are really in my life anymore. All the photos we took on the last days, all the messages we wrote to each other, none of it has really lasted. I am a totally different person now to who I was at school. I do often wonder that if I was who I am now, at school then, would I have had the same friends? Would I have done the same things and eneded up where I have today? Its one of those thoughts that could spiral a long way! I do still see people from school on occassions and the times I had with them will always stay with me. Some of these people I have on facebook, but it still does not mean a lot if there is no contact there.
My uni photos will always make me smile as it was such a happy time for me, the last two years especially. I have made firm friends there that I know I will always stay in touch with, even though we are spread around the UK. There were lots of pictures from the end of uni with people that I knew I wouldn't see again. As it was such a short part of my life I wanted to capture a lot of it in photos through the people I lived with, worked with, partied with and studied with.
The biggest area of sorrow for me is the photos taken with friends I grew up with in church and local youth groups. Its the same story as I am sure that anyone who has been a teenage christian will experience. People no longer walking with God. People we saw living their lives for God, who no longer do. I am in the position where I still know a lot of the people from my local area that I grew up with in church. But it breaks my heart to see them so far from God. If it saddens me, then how must God feel?! Obviously we all have free choice to make our own decisions, but I do believe once someone is a christian it always stays in your heart somewhere.
There has been a lot of change in my life recently and I think this little task today challenged my thoughts even more! As I left my job of five years, a friend I used to work with said that I would now find out who my real friends were. In a busy, tight-knit work environment a lot of false working relationships are made and we mistake it for friendship sometimes.
I have no Gerry Springer style final thought after this long entry. All I would say is who do we consider to be good friends, but don't ever let them know? I know there are people I think about and miss seeing, but don't ever tell them as life ticks by too quickly. Also, with reference to above, I am very keen to not lose current youth I am involved with once they leave school for uni or the working world. This is always 'make or break' time in my opinon when it comes to following God.
(thanks for reading, its been a long one for me!!)
2 comments:
A problem common to us all Roothie poignantly put but some times people come back into our lives that we thought we would never see again. This week I bumped into an old school friend from Christian Union days while on my new college course. I haven't seen him in 10 years and had all but forgotten about him so he was about the last person I would have expected to meet. He's now must changed, taller and more surprisingly tells me he is now gay, but he still thinks about the CU. I'll probably bump into him a lot over the following months so who knows what God might do.
Love you Roothie xx
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