Overexposure Turns Us Black - Metaphor For Life

I had an experience this week that made me stop and ponder on something. I posted a blog a month or so back about some 60 year old film that I sent in to a "film rescue" place that develops old film. Here is a link to that post. 

I also found some regular film and a disposable camera my mother had used and not gotten developed. I took that to Costco where they told me they don't develop regular film anymore but Walmart has a place they send the film to get developed.

I sent the disposable camera in and about two weeks later, I got a call from Walmart saying that the film was damaged somehow and only ghost images showed up, "most likely from over exposure or the film sitting being unused for too long, not getting developed in a timely manner."

I could see that there were a few images that were faint but was sad and discouraged that that we didn't get anything usable. However, Walmart didn't charge us anything for the film that didn't have anything on it that was usable.

The company that develops the old film or movies does charge a flat rate if nothing is on the film. It cost me $140 to just have them look at the film to find out there was nothing on the film. They also charged $12 to send back the original containers etc.

I can't feel bad about any of it as there could have been my parents wedding on the film and that would have been priceless. I did feel that there was a "life" lesson in the film.

Sometimes when we are over exposed to certain things, it darkens our souls. We see so much violence, sexual content, hear so much foul language that we get "over exposed" ourselves.

When film gets exposed too long, it becomes black. So too, our souls! I would have loved to see what was on the film. It could have been something priceless to our family. However, do to overexposure, it is now of no value.

I think this is also how our souls are. They are priceless, our virtue and character truly are at such a value that they is no price you can pay to get it back. Once it is lost, it is lost forever. Just like the images on the film, they are lost forever. No matter what they did, they could not retrieve the images that were lost.

We really need to be careful not to overexpose ourselves or our children to those things that will make them lose their innocence, virtue, and character.

On the other hand, if we hide ourselves away, or our kids away and keep them in the closet or locked away in our homes with no exposure whatever, the film also can be dark from no exposure. Some exposure can give it some images and can bring depth and color to the film. By keeping it locked away, it is a useless as the over exposed film! There has to be some contact with the light in order for the film to be of any use to anyone! By keeping it locked away from anyone and anything, it is useless!

Another possibility is that you allow the film to some exposure. With that, it gets an image on it. The exposure time was great, and if it was developed, you would have valuable or priceless images of wonderful things. But, if you forget to develop the film by sticking it in a box, dark corner or just due to lack of persistence, it then ages over time and can become brittle, dark, muted, lose some of the color and can then lose its value as if it were over exposed or never exposed. Just because the film was used correctly, due to neglect or forgetful behavior, the value in the film is no longer there.

The same can be said in our lives. If we lock ourselves away from society to keep "safe" we lose our value and ability to influence others in life and be a contributor. If we expose ourselves to God, others, do good in the community etc and then think, "I have done enough, I am going to rest now" and then lock ourselves into our homes, or just stop helping or keeping in tune with God, we can then lose our color, sharpness, value to others, usefulness to God etc. By not "Developing" ourselves continually, we lose value and sharpness and perhaps some color vividness. Maybe we lose our ability to hear the soft whispers of inspiration that would help someone having a rough day, or save a life etc.

We need to make "developing" a priority, we need to not "overexpose" ourselves to things that will cause our souls to blacken. We need to be persistent in Developing those thing that will keep us sharp, bring color to our lives and give us experience. We need to be in the world having "exposure" to important things that can help us develop rather than hiding ourselves away.

I guess the $140 wasn't a waste as it caused me to contemplate on a few things. By sending them into be looked at, I now know and there isn't any questions in my mind about them anymore. Sometimes, we just need to act on our feelings rather than questioning them. When we act on promptings or feelings, there is no need to question "what if I had done this or that?" By acting, we can give ourselves piece of mind! Sometimes, it can bring relief to others as well. I promised God and myself that I would always try to act upon those "feelings and promptings" as I have had great losses by NOT following those feelings. Here is one such story.

I am grateful for the lessons and Metaphors in life that can give perspective and insight into areas that may have been dark before!

Have a Blessed Day!