His Lens on My Life—and Yours

 It had been one of the busiest years for me professionally and personally. Our school had lost two teachers just within two months in the same class, and I had to add teaching a third-grade class to an already crowded workload as an administrator. I was finishing my doctoral dissertation, and, in the middle of the school year, I suffered a fall that left me racked with pain.

Now the last school day was here, but rest would come only after my nephew’s high school graduation. I was physically and emotionally drained, and, most important of all, I was struggling spiritually as I needed to see the hand of God in my sister’s life. She was going through a terrible time, and it appeared that the enemy was winning.

My sister, Nathalie, was hurting, and her troubles kept my heart company as my husband and I drove to graduation. I shared my worries with my husband, Walden, and he listened sorrowfully as I spoke through my sobs until we arrived at the university. Upon our arrival, we joined the rest of the family and took our seats. My brother-in-law, Winston, sat next to me. He shed the camera from across his shoulders, wiggled in his seat for comfort, and adjusted his camera lens on his son, Jared, who sat among more than eight hundred graduates.

For the next four hours, Winston focused his lens on his son, and he did not move. He captured his son’s every stir and smile. As Jared scuttled for his diploma, his father caught his happiness and high fives. When the whole ceremony was done, Winston quietly placed his camera down and sighed with relief. Right there, the Holy Spirit spoke a lesson into my heart.

 “Do you see this?” He seemed to say. “Do you see how this man’s lens was focused solely on his boy? Cannot God see your sister and set things right for her?” The Spirit of God uses the simplest moments to teach the deepest spiritual lessons. Why was I fretting? The One who keeps my sister does not slumber or sleep (see Psalm 121:4), nor does He tire. My faith and joy renewed, I related God’s message of hope to my husband and later to my sister. We all prayed and anticipated God’s promises to materialize—and they did in time. If God can see the tiny sparrow fall, surely, in times of distress, His lens is centered on me, my sister—and you!

 Rose Joseph Thomas.