I don’t really like getting my picture taken. There are lots of black and whites of me as a kid, but I didn’t have much of a say back then. And besides, they were mostly action shots of me doing stuff when I didn’t know the camera was on me.

By my teens, I had discovered the sneaky way people take pictures when you’re not looking and I avoided cameras like the plague. In fact, it’s really hard to find a picture of me in my teens outside my high school yearbooks.

But the picture curse has followed me. I married into a family that loves to take family pictures. When my wife’s family gets together, a family picture is difficult on two counts: One, there are a lot of us so it’s hard to get everyone in the picture, looking half normal all at the same time. And two, is the holding of the pose for 10 or more cameras to be lined up and clicked. … It’s a low point of every reunion for me.

This Christmas the traditional family picture was missed. I didn’t miss it, mind you, but my mother-in-law forgot to mention it and we snuck out of there without that annual painful experience.

But my luck ran out when my wife, Lily, announced she wanted a family picture the next day. You might think that I would have been happy with this photo shoot because there was only four of us and one camera. But remember, I don’t like having my picture taken.

No one in my family, other than Lil, likes these photographic sessions, either. We all have bad memories. The worst memories hang on the wall in our hallway. We were all together on a cruise a few years ago and Lily wanted a family picture.

The cruise line wanted to make some money, so they had photographers who would arrange you in all sorts of poses – poses I would not normally be found in. You get the idea … three out of four of us hate the hallway pictures.

Lily thought everyone would be happy to have their picture taken this year, on the promise that she would replace the dreaded cruise pictures. (That’s not going to happen, I’ll guarantee it.)

Well, the photo session was horrible, at least from my standpoint. I’m not that photogenic, and I’m not a natural poser. I was either standing too far from Lily, or I was lurching over her. They all were having a great laugh with the all pictures I was ruining.  But I wasn’t.

At one point there was talk of just cropping me out of the picture because they all looked really good together. They could be a family of three. I wouldn’t have minded that but I was still having to pose for the pictures.

Finally, they got a picture they were happy with, or that was semi-decent of me. I started to walk away, trying to shake off the trauma of the whole experience.

Then they called me back. They wanted pictures of just Lily and I. Oh boy … here we go again.

Here’s the thing: At the start of a new year, we have the opportunity to read through the Bible in a year. Now you may have some bad memories of trying and not finishing, or finding parts of the Bible really dry. You might want to avoid that experience again. But let me encourage you not to think of the painful process; think of the lasting memories you will have as you soak up God’s Word.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you dislike about taking pictures? Leave your comment below.