Absence makes the heart grow...delusional?

"I remember the good old days when..." And the delusions begin. It's amazing how time has a way of erasing the not-so-good parts of our history and memory.

Sometimes you hear it at funerals. Sometimes you hear yourself reflecting on 'the simpler times' when you were younger. "If only we could go back..." Really? Would we really want to?

Even the writer of Ecclesiastes (7:10) said, "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions."

We have a way of fooling ourselves and not coming to terms with today. It's why we eat comfort food. It's why people drink too much. "Let me escape from it all."

And if we really could go back, we'd remember, upon arrival or soon thereafter, all those things that weren't that great and wish we hadn't done so.

It's like that Seinfeld episode in which George sees the woman he'd broken up with a good while back because she drove him nuts and NOW that he sees here with someone else, he's jealous...

...and wants to 'go back.' He pursues her, she resists and finally gives in. They're wrapping up their first date and as he walks her home, you hear him think "I've made a terrible mistake..."

Christians do that to with the past: bus ministry, Sunday night worship services, door knocking, gospel meetings, 'wearin' yer Sunday best', potlucks, good 'ol fashion singings, etc...

Lots of things are good, for a time. I remember with fondness my first car, but I certainly wouldn't want to have to depend on it for transportation for me and my family today!

What about you? What is it about past things that made them so good? For example, those who "long for" Sunday PM worship usually are really longing for comforting relationships.

What things does your heart drift back toward? What church things are 'comfort food' that you sometimes "wish we'd go back to?" What makes you think they'd be good for today?

Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 that "Each day has enough trouble of its own." Tomorrow isn't something we change by worry. Today isn't something that can be fixed by yesterday.