Why do parents take a bazillion pictures of their kids?

Above is pictured the camera roll on my phone. And if you follow me on Instagram it looks about the same! I could look at and photograph these faces all day. But why?

I've lost count of the complaints or expressions of bewilderment from people who see all of these young parents like myself as we obsessively post picture after picture. Sometimes they will wrongfully take their bewilderment to the next level of judgment, looking down on us babymakers as overly sentimental, mentally ill, etc. etc... And usually these bewildered or annoyed friends are not yet parents. 

So this blog post is for you, my dear non-parent friends! :) I know you think what you want of this crazy photo-diarrhea, but what I see here is a vast difference in worldview that I might try to reconcile in my writing here! 

See, there is a fundamental shift that occurs on the day you become a parent, whether biologically or not. It came crashing down on me all at once on December 14th, 2011, the day I had a Cesarean section and they pulled my firstborn son out of my abdomen. I fell totally and completely in love.

Nobody warned me about this! I was unprepared for the tears of overwhelming joy and warmth, the sleepless protectiveness, the utter joy I got at looking in that precious and perfect face, the nauseous feeling that overtook me when I heard him crying helplessly, the despair when he wouldn't nurse on the day he got circumcised (ouch!). The pain of the incision from major abdominal surgery, and the fact that I couldn't even stand up straight didn't matter as much. It paled in comparison to what I was feeling for my newborn son. I knew I would do ANYTHING for Carson. 

David observed this change in me as I lay in the recovery room after surgery, while he was holding our swaddled (and quiet, lol) newborn son. All I wanted to do was hold him and nurse him. David reminds me frequently of how beautiful I was to him in those moments. And as time passed, David also formed that emotional attachment to our son. 

But it's all just hormones, right? Oxytocin taking over the mind and body? No. It's much more than that and I knew it even then! Because even as the flow of oxytocin slowed and stopped as Carson was weaned at 12 months, that warm and strong love for him burned on in my heart and soul. Even as the oxytocin flowed for Jase's recent birth and as I nurse him now, not only does my love for Carson continue to flourish but it has doubled with another child! I could gaze into their precious, crusty or tear-stained eyes all day long! But my experience is only one of billions, and cannot be the only proof that a parent's love isn't just shallow hormones. 

See, in my faith is the tenant that we humans are not just mammals that reproduce, but we are made by the one holy, perfect, compassionate, unchanging God after his image. We are meant to be his picture. Made by him for his glory, for our mutual enjoyment. As image-bearers we love our children as much as he loves his. He is our heavenly Father and takes delight in the people he created. He also enjoys the people he redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, who reciprocate his love because they believe he gave his Son up to cover our sins and save us from just punishment. He loved the whole world so much that he even gave up his one and only Son, and his Son loves us so much that he chose to go to the cross. And his love is so victorious and powerful that he rose from the dead, so that those who believe in him will also rise.

How much less, yet so much, do we take delight in the faces of our children? The love I feel for my sons is not just hormones. Their names are a permanent word etched into my heart forever, because as a person made in the image of God I have the capacity to love that is almost boundless. It hurts yet it feels so awesome. To me it's a whole new and mysterious side of God's love. 

Even as Carson is getting older and begins to disrespect me, hurt me, scream in my face, hit me... I will always love him. How much more does God?

That's about all the words I have to do the parent-child relationship at least some justice. I have only to add that, from my experience of God-given love for my family, I've realized that it should never be necessary to defend or explain why a parent does what they do for their child. They shouldn't have to endure the disapproval of friends or family who aren't in their shoes or who don't understand why they do what they do. They shouldn't be judged or condemned as pathetic idolators or spiritual weaklings. Yes, even in the shallow, unreliable barometer of what or what is not posted through faceless and surface-y online networks. 

So my dear friends who are not yet parents, whether you want to be or not... just know that those annoying and repetitive pictures are only a good thing and a sign of a healthy and strong love that is from God. Ask yourself: Do I believe that God actually loves me -- a lot? Think of this... that your God would want to look at 200 almost identical pictures of your face, for He created you and delights in His beautiful and good work!