The Good Old Days

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10

Is there a time in your life that you would like to go back to? Perhaps there was a time in your youth that you would like to revisit. Occasionally, I hear people talking about the “good old days.” This discussion usually includes things like the price of gasoline, the price of milk, or when a certain interstate highway was a dirt road. Solomon said that this kind of talk was not wise. There are advantages and disadvantages to every time period in the history of mankind and every phase of our individual lives. Our tendency is to point out facets of life from another time that seem to have faded away and have been replaced with things that are less desirable, less enjoyable, and less advantageous to our purposes. This seems reasonable on the surface, but the problem is that we are ignoring all of the negative things that have been replaced with positives. We are overlooking all of the great reasons to be alive today. No matter what we do, we cannot travel back in time to the “good old days.” They are gone. The only time we have is the present, the only day that we have is today. God has given us this day for a reason. It will present us with opportunities that we could never have experienced in the “good old days.” We must endeavor to please God and serve Him today, because it is the only day that we have. We ought to thank God for the day He has given us and revel in the good things that we enjoy now.