I still have that piece of paper, and God brought it to my mind as I was contemplating the events of the past week and what I should write about today. I was absent from the blog last week because we were away at our former church in Illinois. In celebration of their 20th anniversary, they held a homecoming mini-Bible conference and invited us, as the first and only former pastor, to come and participate. We were fresh out of Bible college where my husband was a much older than average student, when we moved to this town where he was called as the first pastor of that church. Little did we know at the time that we would stay there for 17 years. And this visit was our first time returning since we left 3 1/2 years ago.
At the same time, during our five days there we could not help but do a lot of reminiscing. Everywhere we went the memories were present. We remembered the early days of renting a senior citizens community facility and having to set up and tear down before and after every service for five years. We remembered buying our new building and how excited we were to have a place to call our own; building an addition, putting on a new roof, renovating a small missions house. There were memories of Vacation Bible Schools, evangelistic services, church picnics, Christmas Cantatas and plays, youth rallies and activities, fellowships and dinners and trips to camp. Things only people such as ourselves who had been there at the beginning and throughout the entire life of the church could know and experience. And we missed seeing many people who had been very dear to us who have been promoted to heaven since we moved away. Our three children grew up there. We drove by our old houses and remembered playing basketball in the back, kids learning to drive, the blocks where they used to deliver newspapers and walk our dog, the library where all three of them worked in high school. The memories were overwhelming, and if I may be honest, really sad. Because they were memories of a season of life that is now in the past and can never be recovered.
I experience the same feelings when I work on or look at the photo books I have made. I have mentioned in previous posts that I enjoy scrapbooking. I have made special photo books of each of our kids and our grandchildren, of family vacations and trips, of special family occasions. They are filled with pictures of children who were once adorable babies and children and now are grown and have children of their own, of grandparents and great grandparents who are in heaven. They capture happy times in the past. And sometimes they are hard to look at.
All of these things together, if I dwell on them, can make me feel sad and even filled with regrets and longing for the "old days." But God doesn't want us to live in the past! That's why the verse I started today's post with is so special to me. God is wanting to do something new! If we are living in and longing for our past life, then we miss what He wants to do for us now. In addition to promising us that He will do something new, the end of that verse contains a promise that He will even do the unexpected and the seemingly impossible - making a road in the wilderness and a river in the desert certainly falls into that category.
When we get thinking about days and special times gone by, instead of being sad, we need to
- thank Him for each person and each special time
- praise Him for the gift of memories
- trust Him for the future
As one of my favorite quotes says, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened!" (Dr. Seuss) God blessed us in the past - God wants to do something new!
Till next time,
Kathi
No comments:
Post a Comment