The Good Old Days?

AM Psalm 38 • PM Psalm 119:25-48
Ecclus. 7:4-14 • Rev. 8:1-13 • Luke 10:17-24

Today’s passage from Ecclesiasticus is in keeping with the ‘proverb-style’ phrasing found in this book from the Old Testament of unknown authorship.

“Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” Eccl. 7:10

The verses that precede this contrast the actions of the wise to “the heart of fools… the song of fools… the laughter of fools…” and so on—so that the context of this advice is clear: we are surely foolish if we believe that the past was better than the present. Or, as the motto pasted on my bathroom mirror reminds me: “DON’T LIVE IN THE PAST.”

I am often tempted to spend my limited mental energy trying to relive the past when I need to just let it go. Of course, we all have happy memories that are a pleasure to recall, but when we get wrapped up in nostalgia for “the good ol’ days” we can lose sight of what is happening here and now. 

Comparing the present—the only time we actually have to live in—with what we may perceive to have been better about the former days, can be disheartening. We discover that our memories hold sadness and regret as well as shiny, “greatest hits” moments. It is good to remember that life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows, or—as the writer of Ecclesiasticus reminds us:

“On the day of prosperity be joyful, and on the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other…” Eccl. 7:14

Written by Shannon Dillard Mitchell

...who, like so many others in our church family, is celebrating the birth of a beloved baby girl and mourning the death of a dear friend in the same week that I write this.