Ever see those 'Kodak Moments' either on commercial or on the internet? I love them because that depicts my life pretty much all the time - those precious priceless times!
So what is a Kodak Moment? Kodak describes a Kodak moment as "a rare, one-time moment captured with a photo, or should have been captured by a photo". So it means a moment that you would want to remember, a moment worthy of being captured on camera. But some of life's greatest moments are unexpected.
So why do Kodak Moments belong on Spiritual Sunday? Because Kodak moments are those moments that turn the ordinary into the extra-ordinary. I know quite a few people who are really really good photographers, one of my nieces being one. She can capture that special look a child or person gives that lets you look into the soul of the person. She is truly gifted. But how is being creative also defined as turning the ordinary into the extra-ordinary?
In the 1st chapter of Genesis we learned that God is the undisputed Creator of earth and everything in it and He did it out of nothing. While we cannot do that, He has given us the ability to be creative. We have been given the ability to take something that is ordinary and turn it into something that is extra-ordinary. Do you know what the word paradigm means? A paradigm is the lens through which we view the world. Much like the lens of a camera or the photographer who looks into those lens, we view the world through our paradigms. Through our lens we view the world. That world will be colored by our culture, our upbringing, our educational background, our race, and those things that makes us who we are. Each of us view life and things differently for these and other reasons. But all of us have the innate ability to turn the ordinary into the extra-ordinary.
Take two people standing in the same place viewing a beautiful sunset. One person sees it as something ordinary, a normal sunset. The other person sees it as something extra-ordinary. That person sees the colors and how they interact with each other and then reflect off the water. One person can look at a glass of water. One will see it as half-full. The other person will see it as half-empty. It is a matter of perspective. The paradigm through which you view things makes all the difference. Does your paradigm change? Mine does, sometimes even on an hourly basis.
We long to capture a Kodak moment to hold onto it for the future and eventually for future generations. But we must remember that one also has to live in the moment. We need to spend less time trying to capture a moment on film and learn to live in those extra-ordinary moments as they come. Think about what it is that makes them special. What would those snapshots reveal?
So were my Kodak Moments always put into a physical photograph? No, some of my most memorable Kodak Moments are not on paper. They are in my heart. They are on our king sized bed where family discussions were carried out with our kids, they are moments in time where I am surrounded by what makes me happy - the people I love and God, they were all of us - well most of us - singing and playing the piano while our beloved lab howled with us.
So in terms of one of my Kodak Moments that happened yesterday:
Scenario: Spooning and snuggling with my husband surrounded on that king sized bed by our 2 male kittens, our female cat. Then having our daughter come to our house and put our 2 precious bulldog granddoggies on said bed, then hug and kiss us goodby for a few days.
What I captured in my mind was priceless: the scene above - nice and peaceful and loving - that is until my cell phone went off underneath one of the bulldogs which spooked her and the whole bed jumped at least a foot off the bed with cats and dogs and us all tangled up laughing our rears off.
Let us thank God for the revelations, the transformations, and the divine manifestations that are ours, each and every moment - those moments that turn the ordinary into the extra-ordinary. Watch for them. They happen more than you think. It is those memories that you will carry with you through life. Did you see your life half full or half empty?
