The Value of Photographs

Photographs are like little hand-held treasure boxes that carry with them jewels that gain in value over time. Imagine having a treasure box full of pearls, only to have to suddenly transform into  rubies five years later and diamonds twenty years after that. I would be ecstatic! (Diamond's ARE a girl's best friend after all...um, at least, so I've heard). ; )

Impossible? Maybe. At least with pearls turning into diamonds. But with photographs...those treasures have a way of becoming more and more valuable as the years pass. Think about pictures of your kids, for instance.

Think about when you first get a photograph of them taken and are standing there with the developed prints in your hand. You can't wait to frame them and show them off to your family and friends. You may even love the pictures of them so much that you hang some above the fireplace mantle at home so that everyone who walks into your home, sees the loveliness that your little blessed loved ones behold within.

Fast forward five years to when those kids are no longer babies and they are starting their first day of kindergarten. You start comparing how they used to look when they were little and comment on "how fast they've grown." You find yourself wishing that they could be that little all over again.

Zoom ahead another 13 years and see the pride in their faces as they walk down the aisle, holding a graduation diploma in hand. You're about to say a temporary goodbye as you send them off to college. Your little girl. Your little guy. Grown up enough to start venturing out into the world and start creating a new life as an adult. You wonder where the years have gone and start to hold those baby pictures a little bit tighter to your chest.

Then there's the beauty of his or her wedding day and the love exchanged between two committed souls. Those pictures hold such a wonderful memory of a special lifetime vow made and are often the first that people grab if there is ever a natural disaster. Those baby photos of your now grown up "little one" often become a focal point after he or she leaves the home to start a new life with a new love and you find yourself wistfully looking at those precious baby photos everytime you pass by them in the hallway.

Once their kids come, the baby photos come out again and you start to compare "how much little Trevor looks like his Daddy" and "how much Sarah looks like her Mommy."

This building value increases and continues each year as your daughter or son experiences more and more of life. You start to see that each stage of life is beautiful and each memory that is saved is a precious one that becomes more and more valuable as time passes. Those beautiful memories would only live in the recesses of the heart if it were not for photography.

Each year that passes causes old memories to transform from silver ones into gold ones. After time, as the years go by, you start to see that your photos become transformed from cherished treasures into priceless memories that truly last a lifetime and beyond.