“Nostalgia never tells the whole story.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 12, 2024
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds. Psalm 77:11-12, NKJV
Nostalgia is a powerful force from which few of us are immune. Even the hardest of hearts and most rational of people can fall under its powerful spell, causing us to long for days gone by, “simpler times” filled with joy and meaning and deep fulfillment. Especially in festive times, such as holiday seasons, it’s so easy to look to the past with great affection, perhaps remembering a beloved loved one who is no longer with you or a time when a relationship was defined by trust and affection rather than the pain and confusion that dominates in the present. Beyond the holidays, nostalgia can strike at any point, placing us under its power as we reflect upon our childhood years, the early days of falling in love, or the best years of your career.
Of course, the danger of nostalgia is that it never tells the whole story. It extracts and isolates what we perceive to be the best while conveniently freeing us from the difficulty and struggle that undoubtedly was present at the very same time. Life is never all good or all bad. Joy and sorrow coexist and live in close proximity to one another, and to say otherwise is to accept an overly simplified understanding of how the world works.
One of the strongest forms of nostalgia we need to be alert to is spiritual nostalgia, which is the longing for or idealizing of a previous season of life with God. Perhaps there was a local church in which you experienced the closest friendships of your adult life, and for complicated reasons, that season came to an end, yet now, years later, you continue to unfairly measure every subsequent relationship against that past experience. Or, you encountered the Lord in a mighty way on a mission trip to a foreign country, and now you spend your days longing for that past mountaintop “high,” while failing to realize the very same Lord is with you where you are right now.
We do not live in the past or the future. The stories of our lives play out in the present, in the seemingly mundane yet achingly beautiful realities of our day-to-day lives. And it is in the present that we encounter the joy of the Lord, the same joy that we may have known in the past, and the joy that will lead us into a glorious future.
Prayer
Father, fill me with gratitude for your faithfulness in the past, yet keep my heart forever open to a lived encounter of your goodness and love in the present, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Consider ways that spiritual nostalgia may be keeping you from encountering the joy of the Lord in this present season.
Related Reading
Deuteronomy 8:2; Lamentations 3:21-23; Psalm 103:2-5
Worship Resource
Jeremy Riddle: Jesus Have it All
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