I have a love hate relationship with my camera roll. Do any of you feel the same?
I love taking pictures on many occasions, but I hate going through my roll anytime afterwards. Most of the time, I see it as going through pictures of me not looking my best, places that I didn’t pay enough attention at, missed opportunities for unique IG pics, etc. Even the pictures I like, I can find fault in. This drains me and I avoid it whenever possible … probably because I look at the photos of myself through an unnecessarily harsh lens.
Then there’s my Dad. In this photo, he is looking through an old photo album of my baby pics. My mom tells me that he does this almost every morning with breakfast and it fuels him up for the day. Apparently, what my Dad sees is his daughter he just can’t get enough of. He has such a different approach of looking at me than I do for myself that I still to this day can’t fully comprehend it. Truthfully, even with such a forgiving and loving Dad, I most likely never will.
When I think of this, I am reminded of how deeply and unconditionally God loves us. Unfortunately, there are many of us with broken relationships with our fathers, making this truth even harder to grasp. No matter your situation, I pray that you’ll know in your heart that you have a Heavenly Father who loves and adores you without abandon, regardless of your faults. He dotingly looks at you for who you really are … His cherished child.
I know … It’s hard to imagine anyone, let alone God, loving us especially when we find it hard to even fully love ourselves. Truth is, He loves us anyways and always. You belong, and You are His beloved. Accepting His unconditional love first helps us to then honestly love ourselves and therefore others.
God was, is, and always will be our first and best source of love.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.