Have you ever looked at an old photograph of someone… really looked at it?

I don’t just mean to notice that they dressed differently than we do or to give it a glance as though they aren’t really normal people, I mean to look at it enough to think about the person in the picture, as a real live human being.

These are real people.  They lived, loved, hoped and dreamed.  Did their dreams come true?  Did they take joy in their loved ones?  Did they lead happy and fulfilling lives… or were they unhappy and unloved?

What were they thinking at the moment the camera caught them?  Seldom are they smiling in these old photos, but of course that has a lot to do with the way cameras worked back then: you weren’t allowed to move or the picture would be ruined…

Where are they now?

Did this young man live to old age?  Is he in Heaven with the Lord?

Just like today, most of these questions depend upon the choices that these people made in their lives.  If they made good choices they would have had better outcomes…

If their choice was to reject Jesus Christ, I don’t like to think about where they are now.  If they chose to run after evil, deceit and injustice then by now they have reaped what they sowed.  Of course if they sought righteousness and accepted Jesus Christ then by now they have reaped a harvest of blessings beyond comprehension.

I think it’s a good idea to look at old photos of people and think about them.  Doing this can give a person a chance to quietly reflect on their own life and where it is headed… and maybe we can give serious thought to whether or not we need to make changes ourselves.