What is a photograph? I am sure there is a scientific definition that would cover all the technical jargon but I am asking in a more spiritual sense. To me, a photograph is a captured moment in time. A moment that has never been and will never be again. Never was that point brought so close to my heart than in the story I am about to relate.

Grace Rhinehart and I would probably get along. Grace appears to be a helpful kind of person. When she noticed a family of four sitting outside eating ice cream a few weeks back she asked them if they would like her to take their picture.

The family agreed. Grace snapped a photo on her phone and then handed it over to one of the family members so they could send it to themselves. It was a random act of kindness. An act of kindness that had implications that even Grace couldn't imagine at the time.

Those implications were made apparent when Grace received a text message from the Father of that sweet family she had photographed ten days earlier. The message read,

Dear Madam, you took our picture in front of Rita’s on June 8th. My wife has passed away yesterday and this is the last picture we have together as a family. Please accept my deepest gratitude for your kindness, it means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

A photograph, a moment in time that has never been or never will be again. A simple snapshot of a family enjoying ice cream cones. A priceless heirloom memory of a family.

As Grace related in the story penned for Faithit.com by author Bri Lamm as a photographer she will often snap photos for strangers but what was it exactly that moved her to take this picture? What put that family at that ice cream store at the exact time Grace would be there to take the picture?

You know the answer.

What put me on a website I usually don't visit to find a story about a person and a family I will never know?

You know the answer to that too.

Life is made up of moments. Some of them are meant to be captured in photographs and others are meant to be saved forever in our hearts. If we just follow our faith we will likely be left speechless by the moments that have yet to happen.

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