The Way We Were

As the seasons begin their transition, we find ourselves at an impasse within the year. Children are returning to school, football season is about to begin, and everyone is looking to fresh starts. I may be a bit nostalgic but the beginning of the new school years has always held the concept of new beginnings. Things are swiftly changing around us, and often leave us desiring the way things once were. We begin to long for things that are long past, and as a result, our outlook on the present becomes muddled. Nostalgia is enjoyable, but there comes a negative connotation on the present because of it. We become dissatisfied, and set out in search of that feeling we once knew.
We can become too nostalgic in the church, and can be upset that things are not as they once were. For me, I miss the gathering of grandfatherly men out in front of the building dressed in their overalls sharing conversation over a smoke. Alas, this can never be again. As much as I want that to be present, the parts that made it up are not the same. We find ourselves longing for what used to be, but forget things will never be as they once were.
This is why we must look ahead to the future, and stop living in the past. If we want to be a Family of God, we cannot just talk about it, but we have to live in that way. If we want to grow in Spirit and in number, we have to be willing to do something about it. We must start with the vision of what we want to be. Proverbs 29:18 clearly states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Kyle