The Perfect Pose

One of my favorite pictures of us. One would look at it and wonder why? I'm not looking at the camera, trying to "primp" as Opal would call it, making sure I was just right for the picture while Matthew on the other hand is there with his one of a kind pose.

This way of living has been my reality for a long time. Preparation. Planning. Getting everything just right for the perfect plan I thought I wanted and even needed. I always knew what I wanted to do, always knew that this was my plan, always knew that this is the way my life would go. This was my life. I prepped, planned, and got ready for just the right moments, just the right angles, just the right poses, but then life went and "snapped" my picture when I was totally not ready for it!

So what do you do, when your plan changes? Changes that weren't part of the plan. An unexpected loss, a change of heart for what you thought was your passion, an unforseen opportunity that was never what you had imagined.

Did you know you can spend your whole life planning it out trying to get everything just right for the future, and miss out on the present right in front of you?

Clinging to the plan was what I did for a long time. Wondering why I ended up where I did. All that it brought was heartache and discontent because I couldn't wrap my mind around it. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong to make my plan go awry.

Then I looked back at this picture and saw something different. Instead of focusing on what didn't go right with the plan, I focused on what did go right in that moment. All the while that I'm prepping, Matt is right. He is right in the moment. He knows a picture is going to be taken. He is facing the camera, ready with a clever pose that will most definitely make someone smile when they look at it. He remembered the ultimate outcome. One of the reasons I love him so.

 I decided then and there to just get in the moment. Live it while its happening rather than always preparing for the latter. Easier said that done for a master prepper and planner like me. But as I read in a quote one time "nothing changes if nothing changes." So if I wanted to stop missing out on the present, I had to stop focusing so much on the future. I had to remember the ultimate outcome: the bigger picture. I had to remember to just be, to live, and to love. The master photographer will create a beautiful picture with my life if I will just let him be my guide. All I need to do is be ready for the "snap."

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3

With love,
Tori