Atlanta Wedding Photographer Lauren Wright : Blog

I stood on the escalator, hands on the railing, staring blankly into the bookstore as I tried to gather my thoughts for the presentation I have later today. As I stepped off of the escalator, a man stepped into my view. I vaguely recall him saying something to me, but I kept walking. He spoke up a little, grabbing my attention with his question. “What are you most grateful for today?” he asked. I stopped and turned around to look at him. He had a spray bottle in one hand and a rag in the other, and he was dusting the clothing racks. I must have given him a very confused, startled look, because he laughed and said, “Girl, you were on autopilot.” I woke up from my stunned daze and mumbled a hurried, “Yeah, I guess so,” in response. He smiled as he continued dusting and he repeated his question. “What are you most grateful for today?”

For the first time in a long time, I had nothing to say. I was stunned partly because of the random craziness of the encounter, and partly because he was absolutely right. I was wandering through my day, like I do most days, absentminded and unaware of the world moving around me. This man, with his simple question, had made me stop and remember what I had to live for, and what I had to be grateful for. I looked him in the eyes and told Him that I was most thankful for the love of Christ in my life, and he smiled and said, “How ya feelin’ now?” I told him that I felt encouraged, and he said, “That’s more like it. Have a blessed day.” Then he walked away to continue his dusting.

I live more of my life than I realize on autopilot. When I’m walking between classes or driving to get groceries, my thoughts are not always centered on Christ and His promises. When we live this way, we rob ourselves of the complete and abundant joy He offers us, and the days of our lives pass us by and are quickly forgotten.

God has given me so many amazing gifts that I have to be thankful for. First and foremost, He has offered me His grace. Now that I have taken hold of it, He has invited me to take part in a magnificent adventure with Him. Each day is part of this adventure, and I should meet it with excited expectation about what God will do.

I encourage you to stop for a moment today and think about what you’re living for. Let your life be more than a bunch of Thursdays strung together.

I am so excited to be able to share these images with all of you! You’ll notice over the next week or so that the images I’ll be sharing will be a departure from my normal work. That’s because I’m on the Executive Committee for Greek Week this year, and I’ll be attending and photographing every event and posting my favorite images here!

Greek Week 2008 kicked off this afternoon with tug, which is an insanely difficult and competitive tug of war competition that is held in a 100 foot long, 4 foot deep pit of mud and water. Aside from the start of wedding season, it is my favorite event of Spring semester, and I love being able to photograph it every year. Sorority and fraternity teams train for months to prepare for tug, and the competition this year was pretty fierce. Congratulations to Alpha Xi Delta and Tau Kappa Epsilon for taking home first place!