Sitting in the coffee shop (isn't that where every pastor studies?) this morning there was a man with 2 adopted sons close by. As I studied, I smiled, but then I heard it...that familiar song that I haven't heard in years.
"Your backyard friends, the Backyardigans..."
Can you hear their high-pitched voices singing in your head? You're welcome.
It was funny because last night before we went to bed flipping through Amazon Prime, we came across a show called "Tiny Planets." (Ashley loved this in her first year of life!) All of the sudden the last 12 hours became obviously memory filled. Do you have such triggers? Things that you haven't thought about in years, or decades even, yet the moment you encounter them again you are brought back to the time, place, emotions...joy of a moment?
Depending on your present circumstances these triggers from the past can make you long for "simpler times." Those joy filled moments. Today with the time commitments of older children, the promotions in your work that come with more responsibility, or even the slight downturn in energy that you are experiencing as 40 approaches (I still have 3 months as a 30-something), isn't it easy to want to go back? At least to visit. Just to have your pump primed with a longer moment of joy than just your moment now?
What if you were to go back? I think you would get more than you imagined! I would. As a One year old, I loved watching my daughter play in wonder...be captivated by the images she saw on the screen (for all of you secretly judging me now for putting my 1 year old in front to of the TV, it was a 6 min. show) I wondered what she was thinking. THEN... I remember the countless nights crying in the hall as she wouldn't go to bed, the food she wouldn't eat, diapers (enough said), fits, baby-proofing...it was a stressful time in life...SLEEP was gold, and money was thin...dates consisted of sitting on the back porch while Ashely took a nap.
I could go through a list of things that would be a mixed bag of wonder and weariness with Connor too.
Why do I remember such times with joy when I hear a song or see a picture? I don't want to go back, yet I miss some of its pieces. Do I try to relive it? Recreate it? No, CPS might have some negative words about that one!
The Past is so beautiful because of the present! When I look at my older children, I see how those moments in the past grew up! The imagination of a One year old, now is the creativity of a young lady. The delight in fictitious friendships, now displayed as the joy of an 11 year old who loves teams in every shape, form and fashion. The Present has proven the past. The link is hardly recognizable unless we take a moment to see it!
Things/Times that were trials have blossomed into beauty!
Romans 5 says it this way:
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (NLT)
We are reminded in our faith that the stresses of today blossom into the beauty of tomorrow! In our faith we can look fondly on the past, not to relive them, but to see how Christ has matured us...proven His promises to us! How things that captured us, were simply fuel to strengthen us in Christ today! And those of today...for tomorrow.
As a dad. There are moments that I miss for sure, but today I have been reminded that those moments are still here with me...simply grown up! Evidence that God's promises are true.
