This past week I went through all my digital photos and got them organized. It took days to get the job done. As I worked, I had a chance to do a lot of reflecting on change. There were many triggers for these “deep” thoughts. It was interesting to think about how some things have changed in my lifetime. Of course the first thoughts were around photographs themselves. I remember putting a film in a camera and being very careful to get the right shot the first time. Then, once the film was full, taking it to the store and waiting for a few days for the film to be developed. Now, with digital cameras, I took multiple photos, forgot to delete the ones I didn’t like and created a mess when I down loaded them. I had no idea how much work I had created for myself. The duplicates were deleted, the photos I didn’t like were deleted and the remaining photos were moved into labeled files. It’s good to have one area of my life organized.
It was fun to see the photos of Christmases-past: the pretty trees, the excitement of opening gifts and the special meal with turkey and all the trimmings. One big change over recent years is how Christmas greetings are exchanged. When I was a little girl, I grew up on a farm in a rural community. Mom trekked down the driveway in all kinds of weather to get the mail. She wanted to see if there was any news from family in Holland. It was especially exciting at Christmas time when “everyone” sent greeting. There were long letters written on airmail paper. Being excited about the mail became “part of me”, too. Sending and receiving Christmas cards was fun. Now, most Christmas correspondence is done through the computer. Messages are short and sometimes not much information is shared. I hope to be more proactive in how I connect with people, not only at Christmas, but the whole year through.
Doing all this sorting on the computer made me realize how important my computer has become to me. Last week when I had major problems with my “old” computer, I quickly replaced it. I remember back in the early 80’s when we had our first computer, a VIC-20. I don’t remember being able to do much on it except play some games. When my children were in school, they used a computer for projects and for games. It wasn’t until 2001 that I sent my first email. A few years later I joined an on-line community and found it fascinating that I could communicate with people all over the world at the same time. Now, there is so much more I do on the computer — banking, ordering books and various gadgets, reading the news and articles,checking flyers and connecting with just about anyone, anywhere for any reason. I need to get better at limiting the amount of time I spend “wastefully”after I log on.
One thing that has changed a lot is how I view a 60 year old person. When I was a child , 60 seemed ancient. Sixty-year-old people were the grandpas and grandmas. Their hair was grey or missing, they walked more slowly and they smiled a lot. Through the years, 60 has seemed younger and younger. Now grey and missing hair is not important. I usually saw those older people at a Sunday service so maybe that was why those people walked more slowly because they still lived very productive lives on their farms and in their kitchens. “Retirement” wasn’t a word in their vocabulary. Now I have to work hard to get the amount of exercise I need to maintain my health. As I get older, I realize more and more that those smiling faces were faces of contentment. Those older people had learned many life lessons about God’s goodness and God’s faithfulness. Their trust was in Him.
So, as I move forward, I hope to be more organized, stay more connected with people, use my time more effectively and be active enough to maintain a healthy body. But most importantly, I want to take greater delight in how God has led me to this place of awareness of His goodness and faithfulness as I trust Him more and more. I want to be remembered as 60+ year old who smiles a lot.
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