Nostalgia never goes out of fashion

Nostalgia never goes out of fashion. Other fads may come and go, but not nostalgia. It just seems to get better with every passing year.

Remember Ladybird books? Well one mum recently tested some of the items in The Ladybird Book of Things To Make to see if they would still appeal to her nearly-four year old daughter. Originally published in 1963, at a time when many households didn't have television, she described it as the Xbox of the day.

I don't remember ever reading the book, but I certainly know that I made many of the items that she described in the article. Things like stilts made from 2 empty syrup tins and long pieces of string, “telephones” made with 2 soup cans and even longer pieces of string (before mobile phones were even thought of), pattern painting with a potato and making an Indian headdress.

But it's not just childhood things that many of us are nostalgic for. We look longingly at times when life was simpler, happier, cheaper, less stressful etc. Of course whether they were as good as we remember is another matter.

Sadly many of us leave our belief in God behind when we grow up, just as we grow out of our toys. Rather than hold onto the one thing that can give us peace in our lives, we consider that faith is for kids. Jesus said that we should accept the Kingdom of God as a child does. By this He meant that we should have a simple childlike faith; by all means we should bring our grown-up intellect to bear, but we should not overcomplicate His offer of love to us.

The times we live in today are the “good old days” that we will remember in 10 or 20 years' time, God willing. How wonderful if we look back on them as days when we gave our lives to God, for the first time or as a continuing part of our journey through life with Him.