My kids and I recently watched the second part of the movie Inside Out. In the first movie we get a picture inside the mind of a young girl named Riley Anderson. We watch as Riley experiences joy, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust from the inside out. We see how they shape her choices and how they become part of her identity.
In the second movie, Riley is moving into the dreaded teenage years. Her new experience with anxiety, envy, ennui, and embarrassment shape her character.
There is one emotion that pops in and out a few times in the movie that is rarely mentioned. This emotion is evicted from Riley’s mind by the other characters because she is “not old enough”. That emotion is nostalgia.
I have a love-hate relationship with nostalgia. When you move around a lot in your lifetime, nostalgia becomes a common occurrence.
Having returned to the USA for Christmas break, my family is confronted with a lot of memories. Some good and others bad. What is nostalgia? The Oxford dictionary defines it: a sentimental longing for the past, typically for a place with happy personal associations.
I don’t know about you, but nostalgia has never been pleasant. Longing of any type has never brought me joy. The time invested in the past just seems like a waste. Many times, I find myself actively disengaging from thoughts of the past. Why does my mind go back when God is taking me ever forward?
Isaiah 43:18-19: Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don't you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.
God has surprised me at every corner with side quests and adventures. “Do I see it?”, Isaiah asks. Yes, I do. Any time spent longing for something that was or could have been, is time I do not spend living in what is.
I am glad Reily did not allow nostalgia into her life. How many transformations does a person undergo in a lifetime? When you go back to revisit and reflect on an experience, was it even you who lived it?
In my few years on this planet I have been a rocker, a dancer, a horseback rider. I have been a friend and an enemy. I have been kind and evil. I have been understanding and stubborn. What door am I reopening? None!
I am. Take it or leave it.
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