Old Photos

 Yes, the photographs are in colour, but they are forty, fifty years old, and have faded to sludgy browns and greens. They have lost their sharpness and vitality, the vibrancy of their true colours. 'My pullover was a brighter blue, as I remember it- surely it wasn't that shade!'

Memory can be like that, leeching out the details, sometimes the whole picture. An incident one of us remembers, but the other has totally forgotten. Or only vaguely recollects.

Whatever, these old photos are a reminder of the gulf between then and now, Things were different then. All we have is the present to embrace in all its fullness, whilst admitting that the past has shaped us, and our present experience will shape our future. Thus the importance of 'Now is the day of salvation'. The present moment, while the kingdom is near at hand, and God 'a very present help'.

'Carpe diem!' -seize the day! the Roman poet Horace probably meant it to signify enjoying life while one can, but it can be a salvific motto. It probably wasn't religious language, but it's a religious thought.