#70 – Nerdy Nostalgia

I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic this week and seeing the above DVD sets at Costco last night certainly didn’t help those feelings go away. 

I remember coming home from school every day and watching cartoons like Ducktales, Darkwing Duck and Tale Spin. Every day, from 3:00-5:00, my schedule was clearly planned out. Homework could wait until the evening because I had much more pressing matters.

Nerdclinations and nostalgia go hand in hand. It’s easy to look back upon our younger years and remember the simple joy we received from cartoons, games and toys. It’s not like Darkwing Duck is remotely as good as The Wire, but I didn’t watch it because of the complex plot and deep characters. I watched Darkwing Duck because I was a little kid and that’s what little kids do.

Now I think about those days and sometimes wish I could just be a little kid again, without anything more pressing than a two-hour block of cartoons. Instead of sermons, strategy and pastoral counseling, I sometimes wish I could just see what kind of trouble Huey, Dewey and Louie were going to get into and how Uncle Scrooge was going to rescue them.

If God wanted us to stay children, though, he wouldn’t give us opportunities to grow and change. I may wax nostalgically for my childhood, but I know that God has more planned for me than cartoons and Star Trek the Customizable Card Game. He’s spent the last 20 years weaning me off of my childhood things, so I could better focus and serve the things of his kingdom. It’s a great process because it allows me to live out God’s intended purpose for my life and serve his kingdom. Though there are still some residual nostalgic feelings, which make me think about a simpler time.

What stirs up your nostalgic feelings?