My great mistake

Many years ago some friends asked me to take photos of their wedding day.  In those days I fancied myself as a budding David Bailey, so I rather foolishly agreed.  The couple gave me a list of images they wanted from the day, and I took my role very seriously.  I very much hoped that my efforts would result in a series of photos which would form a wonderful reminder of treasured memories.

The whole day went well, and I returned home to unload the film, ready for posting off to the developers.  Then came what was one of the worst moments of my life, when I realised that I had not loaded the film properly into the camera!  All my efforts would come to nothing.  What was far more important, and dominated my thoughts during the whole time that the bride and groom were on honeymoon, was the desperate disappointment they would experience when they discovered what had taken place.

As it happened, they were amazingly gracious and forgiving, and we remained friends despite my horrendous error.  Of course, the advent of digital photography brought with it many advantages, including the ability to see instantly the results of a camera shot.  If only digital cameras had been around in those far off days!  Even though I do now use a digital camera, I still miss the days when I would excitedly receive a developed set of photos through the post; I love looking back through old photo albums.

I was recently looking through some old photos and came cross one from when I was part of a school cross country team (I was much fitter in those days!)  The strange thing was, that try as I might, I could name only one of the other team members.  Most of the names had slipped from my memory (it was, after all, more than 40 years ago when the photo was taken).

As I was pondering the fact that people and names slip from our memory over the years, I was reminded of the Bible verse where God says, “I will never forget you.”  It’s great to know that although many of the people we meet through life will forget all about us, we will always remain in the heart and mind of God.