Pictures are an intriguing thing to me.  Almost any picture, but I really like looking at pictures of people at events or on trips or with friends.  Just the plan old vanilla pictures people take at a tailgate gathering or in front of the Eiffel Tower or with their daughter.  The pictures tell a story.  You can learn a lot just by looking at the smiling faces and famous places.  Your soul can be moved or you can reconnect to a memory or maybe not really feel anything. 

But sometimes, something better happens.  You find out the story behind the smiles and the locations.  What was the person thinking?  Why were they there?  What had happened earlier in the day.  You find out stuff that really makes the picture unique, but the picture can’t tell you this stuff on its own.  It is the stuff that lives below the surface.  It is the reason for the trip.  The joy of the hug from the kid who is normally angry.  The money given to get the person to the place.  The fight the hour before.  It is the stuff no one sees when they first look and will not see without some investigation. 

Isn’t this how so many people are?  More than external facial expressions and places on a journey.  So much below the surface.  So much to people that is not clearly given away.  It is only time and intentional investigation that you get to this stuff.  The stuff that is real.  That stuff that makes the real moment and the real person.  It is moving from idle conversation and passing glances to real relationship.  Many of us settle for just “the picture”, rather than the whole picture.