I never seem to have enough hard drive space. Even my external drives are full. I have been working on getting my old video tapes on the computer and my kids are scanning old photographs. I have tons of files from past projects and writing, not to mention my more recent digital video and photo files. I have seven external hard drives and they are almost all full. How much data is too much? How many memories do I really need?
Video takes a lot of hard drive space. I have managed to put all of our family VHS tapes on the computer and about half our 8mm video tapes as well. I only have 96 more 8mm tapes to go. Then I get to start on the 194 MiniDV tapes and 92 audio cassette tapes still waiting to become digital data. Yes… I have a lot. But what do we do with all of that? Do we ever go back and watch it? Maybe a little, but am I ever going to watch 600 hours of old video?
I understand the need to keep past memories and reminders of where we came from. It is fun to sit with the family and watch video of the kids when they were little. But how much do we need to live in the past? As I have been working on getting all this media on the computer, maxing out all of my hard drives and looking to purchase bigger and better barns for my data, I came to a realization. Yes, it is important to maintain our history. It is important, and fun, to watch old video and remember were we came from. But a couple of lessons came to mind during all of this.
First, as we look at our past and where we came from, do we just look at it for entertainment or do we learn from our past. I have set in meetings with different organizations and hear talk about how things “used to be”. Sometimes it is better now and sometimes it was better then. We talk about how good things used to be and then we turn the discussion to what we need to do to move forward. If things were truly better before, maybe we should take some time to analyze the path we took to see why things are not as good as they were. Where did we get off track? If we continue to press forward in the wrong direction, we will never reach our destination.
As important as the past is, the second realization I had is to not spend too much time thinking about it. The past is important. In the Old Testament, God told his people to pass down the stories to generations so they will remember what God has done for them. As I spent hours the last few weeks putting old video on the computer, I came to the realization that I have invested a ton of resources (my time and almost all of my hard drive space) to the past. I have invested so much of my resources in the past that I have very little left to move on and work toward the future.
How much of our resources do we invest in the things we cannot change? Our time? Our physical and emotional energy? Our attics, closets, and hard drive space? Do we spend more time thinking about the past than we do planning and working toward the future? In Philippians 3, Paul writes…
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3: 13-14
The past is behind us. Yes, it is important to learn from it. It is important to keep reminders of the good and the bad. It is important to remember where we came from. But too many people allow the past to continue to define their future. Paul writes to forget about the past. You cannot change it. Work toward the goal. The goal is not to invest all of our time and resources cleaning up the past. The goal is to invest the resources into changing our own lives and following Christ. We get so easily thrown off track by the past and the social change issue of the month, that we forget that the prize is Christ Jesus. We invest all of our resources putting our old video on the computer so we can preserve it and maybe one day do something with it and find ourselves continually running out of resources with nothing left to chase the prize.
The past is behind us. We cannot change what we did or didn’t do. I wish I had done may things differently, but I cannot change the past. I watch some of the video and wish some things were like they used to be. I watch other video and wish I had not done some of those things. All that I can do is forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. Learn from the past, but focus on seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Hard drives… the “storage units” of today. How much of your resources are tied up in preserving the past and how much is dedicated to creating the future?
