Going Back

I am not sure that going back to places you cherished as a child is a very good idea.
Sometimes it better to give them a wide berth and avoid altogether.
Time has a way of tarnishing the memories and making the reality of life seem frankly odd.
But recent circumstances have conspired against me in this.

Last week I attended the funeral of my best friend’s mother.
I had known her for the best part of forty years and throughout my teenage years we all went to the same church. My Friend and I
Sang in the choir
Went to Cub Scouts
Went to Youth Clubs
Prayer meetings.
Harvest festivals.
Church Bazaars.
Yes, you have guessed it everything that the church offered I was involved in.
These were happy times, days of enjoyment, friendship and acceptance.
You can even spot me as choir boy,



As I study that photo names come flooding back, (That is me in the 2nd row - far right), I can picture the larks we had, the adventures and the boredom of the Sunday evening sermon.
I hated that late evening service, the vicar took every chance to preach about the imminent rapture and warn the congregation that they needed to be ready.
Dark, cold, wet winter evenings
Chilly church
Boredom
It put the fear of something or other in me.

Sitting in the same old church last week with my wife, I sat and chatted with her taking her on a tour of my former years.
She was fascinated but as I reminisced I grew increasing aware that this was a bygone time that I had left far behind. Full of vivid pictures of long passed people who encouraged and mothered me.
Hugged me
Kissed me
Befriended me
Encouraged me
And disapproved of me when I put my large ‘foot in it’, which was often the case.

I don’t know about you but as I get older my mind gravitates back to the places and events of my childhood.
Inconspicuous events that had no real meaning suddenly spring into my mind for no reason triggered by an every day occurrence.
Sometimes I think that it is God’s way of showing me who I am and what I can learn from these experiences.
Other times I think it is just a life full of memories.
I can’t get away from these memories.
So it becomes a question of how I deal with them.
Embrace the ones that have changed me and discard those that would hurt me.
But most of all.
Put them all in a drawer marked,
“I am a new creation living in the finished work of Jesus and set free by his grace.”
Although these memories remain,
Christ in me is the hope of glory and he has made me His son and a co-heir to all my heavenly father’s riches.


And I am reminded today by,
Joyce Meyer,
“The past is like a magnet; it’s always trying to draw us back, but Jesus wants to draw us forward!”