I have noticed some phrases being used by an awful lot of people lately. “Remembering better days.” Or “Back when life was good.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love walking down memory lane. I am an emotional sap. I love when my phone’s icloud photos randomly show me a memory or Shutterfly emails me and says, “Remember this from three years ago?”
As nostalgic as I can get, however, I do not want any of us to assume all of our better and best days have already taken place.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Romans 15:13 (NLT)
We cannot live our lives right now with the tunnel vision of pure bleakness. If we do, we are not placing our hope in the hands of God. We have overflowing, confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we can find plenty of joy amidst the turmoil and stress.
So, even though Terry and I had to cancel our 2020 travel plans, we decided we could still make travel memories. I have been bringing the "travels" to us. A few nights ago, I made a Moroccan Shakshuka. Terry ordered this particular meal kit as a meal he wanted to make for me. But when he read the instructions he laughed and said, “Do you want us to make it, together?”
We decided this would become something new we are going to start doing, together. Cooking a meal together we have never tried before, from places we have yet to visit.
We can overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit that better days are ahead. We haven’t had them all, in the past. We can have them today, tomorrow, and next week and next month!
This is why Terry and I have been “traveling” in our kitchen. We are trying new things we might not have tried, if not for these times. I have made Costa Rican Gallo Pinto and countless Mexican dishes. I am making Poisson Cru from Tahiti soon and Terry and I are discussing Thai dishes to make and what African dishes we should try, next.
We are getting excited for new things.
The enemy wants us to live in fear, and looking back. Jesus wants us happy, excited, overflowing with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can find joy in all types of places in your life. You can even find it with something as simple as bringing the travels to you.