She sat proudly on a wooden stool. Her hair done perfectly…smile gleaming…wearing her favorite sweatshirt, that she was sure to tell me was a red-orange color and not only red or orange. I sat across from her on a small apple box holding my camera asking her a couple questions. She was so proud to be in front of the camera…sitting in a professional photography studio setup with pro photographers, lighting, hair stylists, and makeup artists…all there to serve her.

I had met her and her family just a few minutes prior during Help Portrait here in Nashville this past weekend. I was given the honor of shooting some photos of her family. After I had finished the family photos, while another member of our team was proofing, editing, and printing the photos for them, she and her cousin grabbed my jacket and motioned for me to squat down so they could ask me a question.

I knew what was coming…and I couldn’t wait for them to ask.

“Could we each have our own picture taken?”

Being a father of two young children, I could see the joyful anticipation in their eyes. They waited for my answer, which was an exuberant “yes”! Their faces lit up. At that moment, they each knew they, individually, were special. All I did was talk to them for a few minutes, give them my undivided attention, get to know them a bit, and take a couple photographs. It was such an enjoyable and effortless investment on my part, but it meant the world to them. As children, they felt a certain sense of worth that I would take time to focus on each of them.

Those next few moments were some that I will not soon forget.

He was first. We talked about basketball, his favorite teams, and how he loved to play basketball. He smiled from ear to ear. When asked if we scored a lot of points, he just smiled a humble smile and looked off and away from me as if to dodge the question in an act of humility. His smile was contagious. I smiled the entire time I was talking with him and while sneaking shots between answers.

Then it was her turn. She was so proud. It was her moment. Still smiling from the young boy that preceded her, and after taking a few minutes to exchange a couple small questions with her now that she was the focus of my attention, I asked her one question.

“What do you absolutely just love to do?”

Her response… “I love to make hearts.”

With my own heart reeling in anticipation, I responded, “I bet you make perfect beautiful hearts. Show me how you make hearts. I would love to see them!”

Her eyes lit up, her smile widened, and her hands went right out in front of her.

Shutter – Click.

There are countless people around us..every moment, every day, who need to know they matter.

They need to know they are important.

They need to know that people care enough about them to slow down and listen.

My world, again, was turned upside down by a young child when I slowed down enough to listen and to love. As we near this Christmas holiday, let me challenge you and I to be people who slow down in the midst of increasingly busy and packed schedules, become people who intentionally listen in the midst of the din of the cacophony, and love in a season when so many struggle with acceptance, hurt, and pain of feeling altogether unloved and unimportant.

Some moment that we might view as insignificant could quite possibly be the very essence of hope and love someone is praying for.