The Past is an anchor.
- clmsoprano7
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
How often have you heard “stop holding on the past,” or perhaps “stop living in the past?” Personally I have even said this to myself in times when I felt stuck in the mud. There is value in these phrases as they are meant to help us move forward. Time to giddy up and start living life in the present again right?
Well, sometimes.
This week our daughter Eden, who is about to turn 11, taught me some things about the the past, nostalgia, and what it all means. Yes, she’s 11 and an old soul. She is also very intuitive and honest. I ask the Lord daily to protect this qualities in her as she blooms.
She’s been asking about old technology a lot. She is very interested in vcr’s , cassettes and cassette tape players/recorders, old DVD’s and players.
After I shared with her what it was like growing up in the late 70’s and the 80’s she became obsessed. She told me that old technology rocks because it isn’t always easy, it has a different sound than “perfect.” She gets that progress in the name of efficiency is good, but it often times takes the work out of our own human hands. It robs our humanity, creativity, our desire to communicate.
She said “streaming stinks!” Of course she lives in balance as sometimes it’s fun to find something funny on YouTube instantly. But she loves the sound, the sometimes gritty texture of old videos and the old sounding audio of LP’s and audio cassette tapes! I think it’s because it is raw, and represents what is REAL.
Gosh I love this kid. She is now running around the house with a handheld battery operated tape recorder and making her own fun tapes!
What this teaches me:
Things of the past have entirely more value than we daily give them as human beings. The easier things get, the less we work, the less we try, the less we truly LIVE.
Really, I noticed the biggest change in humanity after the pandemic. Something shut off in so many of us due to flat out fear and anxiety. It changed our very thought patterns about what is good and bad, right and wrong. We left some powerful things behind in those years and we are trying to figure out what is missing!
Memories, the past, history is an ANCHOR to our humanity. Appreciating the simpler times has immediately lowered my anxiety about life in general. The more I rely on my own hands, my own mind, rather than what’s being fed right into my phone, laptop or TV, the more capable and powerful I feel. I am tired of being told what I need by an algorithm that is completely inhuman.
We are going to start having good old family nights again with my folks where we pull out the reel to reels and slides and watch, and REMEMBER where we came from. We found our way then, and we will now, but not by forgetting, and taking the instant easy road to everything.
I plan to SEEK a struggle now and then rather than sitting in a chair having everything fed to me through these devices. It is IN the struggle that we grow.
Eden is a literal miracle. The first years of her life were all struggle. And look at her now. She is a product of toiling in prayer, struggle, fight, God’s grace and love.
Lock into your memories as an anchor. I can see mine and where God has walked my path with me. Learn from it and honor it. We have never need this more than we do now as human beings.
Giddy up y’all!!!
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