Pause and reflect

Hey Fam!

Long time no post. I have no excuse. I've just been carried along the tides—and I’m glad for a breather here and there.

How has life been with you so far? Work? Family? Goals? How are you doing, really?

Learning to Breathe and Go with the Flow

The other day, I was getting ready for a school function with the kids, and a thought popped into my mind:

At what point do we resign ourselves to the happenings in and around our lives?

When do we finally say, “It’s okay, just breathe,” and start flowing with life rather than trying to control it all?

Do you accept what life throws at you, take it calmly, and move on? Or do you keep wrestling with situations until they submit to your will? When your plans fall apart, how do you respond?

Personally,  I rarely make just one plan—I usually have at least four backup options (Ecclesiastes 11:1, people!). I hate being caught unprepared. It makes me feel vulnerable, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it often pushes me to act impulsively, and I hate waste. Especially the kind that comes from not being in control.

Are You a Fighter?

Maybe you’re a fighter.

One who battles for what they believe is rightfully theirs.

Do you fight tooth and nail to get what you think you deserve?

If so, how hard? And for how long?

Do you ever get to a point where you say, “Enough. I’m done,” or do you keep going until there’s nothing left… and then stagger out with what you were fighting for clutched tightly in your hand?

If that’s you, I want to ask:

What motivates you?

What drives you to hold on when everything in you wants to let go? What keeps you in that seat, pushing, gritting your teeth, sweating buckets till it's all over?

The picture that sparked all this

I saw a picture that reinforced all of these thoughts.

A friend (yes, I’ve earned the right to call him that) had posted an old photo of his late father on WhatsApp. His dad had recently passed, and the photo was from years ago. A fine man—not just in looks, but in character. How do I know? You can just tell. From the posture. From people who knew him. From the way his son mourned him. Small signs that speak volumes.

I looked at that picture and thought,  Did he tell himself,- One day, my kids will look at this and say, ‘Wow, my dad was so stylish' and smile at the camera? Or was it just a pose?

Image generated by ChatGPT

It made me think of my own father.

He passed away in 2022, and when he did, the rose-colored lenses I viewed life with lost some of their luster.

Now, I look at his pictures—really look at them. I study his posture. His eyes. His smile (or lack of one). And I wonder: “What was he really thinking when this shot was taken?”

When we take pictures, we’re freezing a moment in time. A glimpse of our lives. But what do those images really capture?

Are you truly present when the shutter clicks?

Are you smiling for the camera, or thinking about the million things still undone?

Are you wondering whether the photographer caught your good side?

Are you thinking about how you’ll be perceived?

Or are you just… blank? Waiting for the moment to pass?

Photographs often feel like secrets between God and His creation, captured by a lens, left for us to interpret. 

So, Let Me Ask You This...

The next time you smile for a picture, pause for just a second.

What are you really thinking?

What story will that image tell one day, when someone else looks at it with love or longing or curiosity?

Maybe that’s the moment you choose to be fully present, because one day, that moment might be the memory someone else holds onto.

Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit. 2 Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world. 

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2