There is no greater sorrow, than to recall a happy time, when miserable. -Dante

The above photo is a picture of the Auburn fairgrounds as one both enters and exits. My days of going to this fair extend to when I was a kid, and then taking my kids for years. A place of many fond memories.

As of this writing, I have less than a month to live in the only place I’ve known for 51 years, California. By the end of December, I’ll be on route to another state with the intention of remaining there permanently for the rest of my life.

It’s a gamble, sure. My mind is flooded with questions, sure. Perhaps chiefly is, will I like it there? I’ve visited there a few times, I’ve walked away with the reasoning that it’s time for a change but, of course, as it draws near, the questioning gets stronger.

It’s both exciting and scary to leave a place you’ve known as home you’re entire life. I’ve done it earlier in my life for school reasons but always with the expectation of returning to my home town.

But this time it’s different, I’m making a choice to leave. Nothing is demanding me to exit. If I consider where I’m at here in CA, everything is good, stable, and content.

But…..that also comes with it’s own danger.

I’ve reached a point where everything is full, meaning there’s no room for expansion. I don’t mean physically, I could always sell and purchase another house in the same area. But I’m referring to mental expansion. Growth, in other words.

While I understand the need of stability, stability can become complacency, and complacency is where our souls slowly rot.

As Jesus would say, when salt had lost its flavor, what can make it salty again? (Matthew 5:13)

Jesus warned that the salt of his disciples could become unsalty, and therefore, tasteless and therefore useless. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Salt is a metaphor used throughout the Bible, sometimes useful, sometimes not.

I wanted to explore that more, what is salt? Do here’s a basic ”wiki” explanation:

”The attraction between the Na+ and Cl− ions in the solid is so strong that only highly polar solvents like water dissolve NaCl well.” — Wiki

Jesus also speaks of another reference to salt, albeit indirectly,

”Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” (Matthew 17:33–34)

• God often says ”Remember” when we are so easily tempted to forget. There’s a commandment that begins with Remember as well.

It’s fairly accepted that Lot’s wife was turned into salt because she mourned the loss of her home, which God destroyed for it’s wickedness (Sodom). The story goes — Lot was instructed to leave and not look back. When I was a kid, I simply took that as not looking at the burning fire. But understanding now, of course, that meant something deeper. Don’t be so attached to a way of life, that you cannot ever leave it.

Even Jesus didn’t stay here, and I mean post-resurrected Jesus. He had to leave, because man would make him more into an idol, stuck in a fixed time and space, rather than the Holy Spirit, which moves and breathes around people where they are.

So back to complacency, the move, and the potential for home-sickness.

I’m sure I’ll have my days naturally, but overall, I’m increasingly believing nostalgia is an enemy of faith.

The fear of being pushed into something new simply because of holding on to what you’ve known can be a trap.

By lamenting the good ‘ole days, nostalgia becomes a sin, a form of sloth, and tempts us to forget what’s possible in the present day. We essentially turn our nostalgia and memories into fixes idols

I find the story of Lots wife apropos; she essentially became an idol of sorts. A fixed rigid object staring back her own idol, that being a way of life, a city, a culture.

Nostalgia is harmful is because of the human tendency to alter memories of times past. We romanticize our memories, placing them on the top shelves of our mental bookcases.

I like how salt, no matter how stable and rigid it is, also instantly dissolves when placed in water.

Interesting, from a baptism sort of perspective. What rigidness do I have that needs dissolving? What nostalgia requires to be letting go?

I’m sure I’ll find out.

I’ll allow myself times of home-sickness, but I won’t allow it to be consuming. This is for a purpose. And may the purpose be for God, to discover how else and what new I can bring for the Kingdom.