Family resemblances....

I spent a lot of time on the first post, about “the beginning.“ It took me several days, I thought about it a lot, and I wrote and rewrote. This one just sort of popped into my head. Several days ago, one of my Facebook friends posted that she was going through old photos, and I commented that I was doing the same thing that day. She asked if it pulled at my heart strings. I responded with some words about the “tangled ball of emotions.” For a while, I didn’t want to look at pictures of Duane. I guess it was easier not to. At first, I actually felt anger when I looked at them. Anger at whom? No one in particular. Just anger in general. Sometimes now, I just look at them quickly, as in turning pages of old albums, and do not let myself linger over them. Sometimes I do spend a lot of time looking at them. Overall, I am so thankful for all the photos I took. They bring back precious memories, not only of Duane, but of so many friends and family members. Our sons like to tease me about always having a camera with me - “Oh, no, here comes Mom with her camera!” My dad was the same way, and his mother before him. So I come by my love of photography very naturally. My sister, too. It’s a family thing. Photos help us keep the memories with us forever. And they help us see family resemblances that we might not otherwise notice or think about much. I very seldom see resemblance to the mother or father in a newborn baby. It has to be an uncanny resemblance for me to notice it. But in looking at photos, I think our oldest grandson looks like Duane did when he was the same age. But then I can see his daddy in him too. I put their pictures next to each other and think they look alike, but others don’t see it. Maybe I just want to see Duane in other family members, so I can see him in a living, moving body and not just in my memories or my imaginations of heaven. But even if in photos they don’t look exactly like the same person, at the very least there’s a family resemblance. And our granddaughter agrees with me - she thinks pictures of her Uncle Duane are her brother.

May our sons flourish in their youth like well-nurtured plants. Psalm 144.12.

Last thought for today on family resemblance: Those of us who say we are part of the family of God should resemble our Papa God and our big brother Jesus.

“….and he decided that they would be like his Son so that

Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers. Romans 8: 29b (NCV)