The Good Ole' Days

Good ole' days? I am amazed and somewhat amused to hear people compliment the church of the past, and contrast it with a miserable estimate of the present. The facts are that the problems of yesterday are the same as they had always been, but somehow viewed as better than the present.

Many people will go through life disappointed, finding fault with everything, but will later look back realizing that it was better than what they thought. In reality, they're in the midst of the good ole' days, and don't even know it.

Many churches deal with the "greener grass syndrome." To them, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Their contentment with life is always attached to some other place, some other time, or with someone else. The solution to their marital problems is to get a new wife or husband. The answer to their dissatisfaction in the work place is to get a different job. They look at their circumstances as if they were a paper cup, to be crumpled and tossed in the trash in exchange for a new one.

Unfortunately, our modern "feel good" culture has helped to shape these attitudes that feed such carnal impulses. A society of painkillers, fast food, and technological marvels has taught us that anything that is less than perfect, instantaneous or self-gratifying should be aborted like an unwanted unborn baby. We forget that problems are not inconveniences that should be "avoided and discarded," but should be accepted as "character-building challenges that can be overcome." Is it no wonder why it is rare to find anyone with genuine character today?

Contentment really has nothing to do with circumstances, but it has everything to do with one's attitude. As a well-known preacher once said, "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." To some people, problems represent barriers that end their progress, but to others, they represent hurdles to be leaped over. We may not be able to change the destiny of circumstances that we will face in life, but we can change our attitude toward them.

Believe it or not, regardless of how bad it may sometimes seem, things are never as bad as they could be. And wouldn't it be ironic that if someday, when persons face things that are even worse, they will reflect back on their present circumstances and think of them as the best times in their life. Some people are so obsessed with the thorns, that they don't realize that they're sitting in a rose bush.

Despite whatever challenges you face, don't postpone your happiness to some other time or place, and don't be blinded from the good things that God has placed around you today. An intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is the only thing that brings true inner contentment. So be filled with the love of Jesus, and smell the roses that God has put in your life. Lighten up and enjoy the good ole' days!

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things" (Philippians 4:8).