A Tale of Two Headshots

Chronicling how poorly I live out my faith (so you can feel better about your efforts)

A Tale of Two Headshots

In preparation for my book coming out, I had a new headshot taken recently.

It made me think back to the first headshot I remember getting. I was a young pup, fresh from the daily newspaper, starting a real job at the public relations agency.

It’s almost incomprehensible to realize it was 38 years ago next month that I started that job.

(Yes, we had color film then. But the agency printed the photos in black and white because it was cool and sophisticated. Obviously.)

It’s also a little overwhelming to think of how my life has unrolled (some would say “unraveled”) since that time.

Work Beyond Belief

As a young PR phenom, I had no idea what was ahead of me. I couldn’t have imagined that after I left the agency, I would only work for two more companies in my career; one for 17 years and the other for 15. I couldn’t have imagined supporting company communications through mergers, acquisitions, ribbon-cuttings, lawsuits, layoffs, and a nasty shareholder proxy battle. I couldn’t have imagined commuting to work two days a week on the company King Air, or having project opponents stalk me after a meeting in Nebraska, or staffing a merger communications “war room” in New York.

If you would have told that young pup, I bet he would have been incredulous.

(On the other hand, he was so full of unwarranted hubris that he would probably say, “Yeah? And what else…?”)

Life Beyond Work

That’s just the work side. The personal changes have been even more seismic. Marriage, births, cancer, baptisms, graduations, master’s degree number one, master’s degree number two, deaths, loss, house, cabin, condos, book, St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin and Bastille Day in Paris.

There are just two photos here, but what happened between them is a whole lifetime. They bookend a lot, when you think about it.

A Faith Pilgrimage

But perhaps there’s no greater journey over those 38 years than my faith journey. As a single guy living to work those many years ago, my faith was a passing awareness of God and the Bible. But mostly it was fear and uncertainty about the future. It was anxiety about what was ahead of me. It was an expectation that I would need to make my career and my life happen through my own strength. If prayer was involved, it was about asking God to give me the things I wanted.

In some ways, nothing has changed. I still try too hard to do things in my own strength. I still pray too often for me first, then others (maybe) after. I still get anxious about things for which I should trust God.

The Blessing of Perspective

But I also have the sheer joy of being able to look back, from this lofty vantage point, and absolutely rejoice in the life I have had; a life that only could have been possible through the blessings and the grace of God. With the benefit of experience, I can see how close God was in the good times and the bad times. With the benefit of time, I can see how God moved things – moved me – to a place that was better than I could have imagined. I usually made it harder than it needed to be, but God was always faithful, always patient, always present.

As a result, the guy in the photo on the right is a lot more grateful, a lot more relaxed, and a lot more attuned to the humor of life than the anxious kid on the left.

So if I could say anything to that youngster in the black and white photo, I’d say:

“Settle down. You can stress and strive all you want, but it’s only going to add pounds and wrinkles (see photo at right).

Instead, why don’t you spend more time reflecting on what your Heavenly Father is doing in your life? Why don’t you spend more time giving thanks for what you have, giving your heart to the people around you, and loving every moment in the moment?

Because, believe me, those moments are going to go by in a flash.”