The Good Old Days
The good old days.
Oh! Sometimes how I long for those “good old days!”
You might wonder what I mean when I say “the good old days”.
I am not sure that I can describe it in human words … but I will try.
I think that I am referring to the time when life was simpler…
When a promise was a promise …
When the welcome mat was always out …
When the coffee pot was always on …
When we knew each others’ names and looked people in the eye …
When a conversation was in person … face-to-face communication …
When children were respectful of their elders …
When people sat on their front porch on a summer evening …
When dinner was cooked at home and smelled delicious as you walked through the front door …
When friendship was a gift to be treasured…
When families played games … and communicated … and laughed together.
Times sure have changed, haven’t they?
Some things have changed for the better – while others – not so much.
I love technology and staying in touch with friends and family members on social media … but I miss talking to people on the phone.
I love the ease of shooting off an e-mail in 60 seconds or less … but I miss the delight of receiving a hand-written note in the mail.
As I recall the delightful simplicity of yesteryear, I realize that everything of lasting importance that I learned as a child I learned in my family home.
6555 Alleghany Road.
I learned to respect my elders and to look people in the eye when I spoke to them.
I learned to work hard and to sing in my family home.
I learned how to pray on that sacred piece of family ground.
I learned to love fiercely and to forgive instantly.
I learned how to make Thanksgiving dinner and how to do the dishes afterwards.
I learned that giving was a joy and that worship was a lifestyle.
I learned to pray for missionaries.
I learned not to tattle and to always believe the best.
I learned that there is not much better in life than time spent reading a good book.
I learned to play the piano … to make cookies … to listen to my parents … and to make my bed.
I learned the unseen value of reading my Bible every day.
“By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established.
And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.” – Proverbs 24:3-4
Although the “good old days”might be just a memory washed away by the winds of change … there is still a place in my heart that is reserved for the treasure of remembering and lingering in that place.
The good old days … thank you for making me who I am.
Thank you, good old days, for a firm foundation and a sincere faith.
Thank you, good old days, for a childhood touched by wonder and colored by joy.
There is a song that I had my children sing for many, many years around the family piano. The lyrics to this song never fail to cause my eyes to leak … and my heart to skip a beat. I hope that they do the same for you.
The House We Call Home by Claire Cloninger and Nancy Gordon
“It’s just a house on a street in a town –
It may not look special to you.
But this is the house where we lived and we loved
Where we sang and we talked and we grew.
And this is the house we call home!
Though now we are grown up and out on our own –
In the back of our minds we are never alone
When we think of the house we call home.
All the things that we value the most –
Are easy to trace through the years.
For they all began in the rooms of this house
As a part of the laughter and tears.
And this is the house we call home!
Though now we are grown up and out on our own –
In the back of our minds we are never alone
When we think of the house we call home.
And always a part of ourselves;
Like the words of a song or the notes of a tune
Is the family we carry inside of our hearts
Who once lived their lives in these rooms.
And this is the house we call home!
Though now we are grown up and out on our own –
In the back of our minds we are never alone
When we think of the house we call home.
Yes – this is the house … yes this is the house … yes, this house will always be home.”
Thank you, 6555 Alleghany Road.
Thank you, Mom and Dad.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!