The Nostalgic Memory

When we hear folks talk about the past, it is usually with a sense of idealism. Even if the past was truly difficult, the woes and pains are glossed over with the passage of time and only the sense of 'how wonderful' it used to be remains. I've heard my father talk about how they gathered in a one room school and shivered around the stove til the teacher brought in some coal and lit it up for heat. Something inside me says, "I wish I could have been there, because that sounds so old-time American." It is almost mysterious how the past is, in our minds, made to be better than the present.

One of my favorite things as a boy, and even now, was to listen to elders speak of their early years. The methods of farming, overcoming the hardships of life, and the way church was 'done', all had a glowing appeal. That being so, there is a tendency to feel guilty living in the present as though we aren't as good, our ways are not as inventive, or to innovate in the modern age is to stray from the paths of the glory years.

Understand this concept. The nostalgic memory always glorifies the past! (you should read that again to let it sink in) In the mind's eye, yesterday has such a special place in our hearts that is not easily unseated from the throne of awe. Problems arise from such false views of the past. One is, we tend to build and unspoken loyalty to yesterday. Suddenly, to consider anything new feels like we are slapping granddad's generation in the face. This is especially true in religion. Blind loyalty really is holding churches and even entire organizations back. Many spend all their energy, their ministry and their lives merely trying to make tomorrow look like yesterday. I've found that these people have an unending job because they keep making yesterday so much better than it was.....they will never get back to it! I read an applicable bumper sticker once that read, "The older I get, the better I was!" Amusing.

Walking into an amusement park in Missouri known as Silver Dollar City, there is a sign over the entrance. Keep in mind the park is set up to look like the mid-1800's. The sign reads, "You have a great past ahead of you." It makes for a nice day of vacation. I really enjoy watching them make horse shoes the way the old blacksmith's did two generations ago. But at the end of the day....it really is nice to walk back out under that same sign and go to an air-conditioned hotel room, take a hot shower without hauling water, eat meals cooked on a gas stove, watch TV, and sleep on a nice mattress instead of corn shucks,..etc. etc!

For me, I am appreciative of the past, but I can't live there. I have been called to live and serve in a generation of high tech, fast paced people. We must learn from the past or we will certainly repeat it. I promise if you had to repeat the past...you'd find it was not as glorious as they said it was. The past was full of pain, suffering, trouble, people issues, hardships, and pneumonia with no cure. So...don't be guilty of glossing it up too much with your nostalgic recollections. Talk of yesterday...but live today!