The Full Picture
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments to just be. Enjoy a couple deep breaths. Take notice of the world around you. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Sometimes, our lives can feel like a piece of mosaic art – a collection of a bunch of different pieces that come together to make one beautiful masterpiece.
“Life's like a road that you travel on
where there's one day here and the next day gone…
Life is a highway…”
- Tom Cochrane, “Life is a Highway”
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
- Søren Kierkegaard
Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Food for Thought
This winter I’ve been cleaning out my basement hoping to get ahead of the annual spring cleaning that I know is just around the corner. Among the many boxes I have stored there, I found several that were full of photos – real life photos, developed from film! In the days of actual printed photos, I usually opted for double prints, or duplicates, thinking I might keep one and share the other.
Turns out, I didn’t share the other as often as I might have hoped, and so a lot of the boxes are full of these duplicates. Many of the photos feature trees and woodlands in and around upper East Tennessee where I grew up, lived, and worked. There are also photos of family and friends, as well as photos of my childhood home.
I did not know what to do with all these photos at first, but now they have inspired something of a writing project. I blindly pull a photo out of the curated box and begin to write. The writing begins with a description of the photo itself...what, where, and possibly when. Inevitably I end up writing about myself during that time of my life.
The fun of this project has been remembering the parts of my life that had been forgotten – forgotten parts of my life, myself, and memories that I recall from “back then”.
We often talk about things seeming as though they were “a lifetime ago” – those days that seem so different from the ones we live now. We do seem to live several lifetimes over the course of our full lives, and in a sense, we do. There is who we were as a child, a high schooler, a college student, a young adult…and then there are the moves, the friends, the deaths, the births. All of those “lifetimes” that build us into who we are today, at this present time.
This ongoing photo journaling project has been a way for me to reconnect to who I fully am – to recall the lifetimes of who I was, and to remember that who I am now, and who I was then are all a part of the fullness of my identity. I AM the avid hiker who traversed Western NC and upper East Tennessee. I AM the kid with the wild curly hair on Easter morning. I AM the daughter of a college professor who included me in his dissertation…I can say I WAS all of those things, but in reality I AM in many ways still that person.
God created me and knew me and still knows me – all of me and all of the ways I have interacted in the world. I recognize that truth more fully as I am coming to know myself more fully. It’s a treat and a privilege to re-member myself. What are those parts of me and my life that I used to love? Where was that special place I used to go when I was tired? Who were the people who helped me along the way? What were those things I did that gave me joy? Frustrated me? And how do those aspects inform who I am today?
In this Easter season, I am reminded of who I have been and whose I am. As we celebrate renewal and growth – from the dormancy of winter in this budding new season of spring – I remember that through all the seasons of my own life, I have been and continue to be deeply loved. Who I was is not closed away in some distant past, but my life in its entirety is held by a loving God who is renewing and remaking me all the time. All the memories in these photographs reflect who I am and how I got to this place. I treasure the gift of reflecting, remembering, and re-membering. I am learning through this process to cherish more the full picture of who I am – the me that has been carried through this life so far – and the me that is still becoming in the fullness of love.
Take a look back at some old pictures of yourself. Journal about what you see – when was that picture taken? Where? Who is in that photo? Who were you then, and how has that informed who you are now?
Now, take a mental snapshot of yourself in this very moment. What is something you are grateful for right now? Make a point to remember this moment of gratitude for who you are, and the strength and resilience that have brought you to this moment in time.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
Loving Creator of our entire selves,
Thank you for knowing us and loving us in the fullness of all that we are.
Thank you for the experiences of our “past lives” –
help us to hold them with love and be grateful for all the ways that those experiences have taught us and molded us into who we are and who we will become.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
We can all divide our lives up into different segments or periods of time. Share with a friend about the various periods of your life. Were there times of particular joy or pain? How have they informed this current period of your life?
Sometimes it can feel like we aren’t who we used to be. Discuss the idea that who you are today is a collection of all of your experiences, for better or worse. How does this make you feel?
How does it resonate with you that God has known you, and loved you, through all of your many “lifetimes”?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Write about yourself – who you are on this very day! How would you describe yourself in three words? Where do you live? Go to school? What are some of your favorite, or least favorite, things – foods, bands, activities, etc.
Now, think about who you were a year ago. How have you changed? Have you grown physically? Do you like something now that you didn’t last year? Have you done something brave that has challenged you?
Think about your WHOLE self – things about yourself that you’re proud of and not so proud of, mistakes you’ve made, accomplishments you’ve achieved, things you do really well and ways that you can improve – everything! Take a moment and remind yourself that God knows, and deeply loves, ALL these parts of you. And God always will!
Meet our Welcoming Voice!
Khette Cox is an ordained minister who works as a chaplain in healthcare, and in her spare time is learning the piano, enjoys watching live music, and loves life with humor and a sense of the sacred. She lives in Old Hickory, TN where you will probably find her on her front porch with Felix, her Newfie mix, waving at her neighbors.
To hear more from Khette throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
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