Looking Back

Looking back certainly has a place in our lives.  It can give us great perspective on the bigger picture than our day to day lives permit.  The year is the forest and the days are the trees.  Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees.  Perspective is good as long as we don’t get stuck in our backward look.  Solomon warned against this in Ecclesiastes. “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.” (7:10) The “good old days” are not to be the focus of the life of the believer.  Looking back is for perspective and not to be a stalemate for our life.

I remember my first big writing opportunity.  I was given a spot in two local newspapers for a weekly column.  That would be the equivalent of a blog today.  I did each article on my old Olivetti and was often frustrated by the way I had to go back and erase and correct typos.  It taught me to be careful.  I truly appreciate the computer where I can correct all I want without messing up my paper.  When the articles were finally finished in a presentable way I had to send them by post to each paper.  Yes, I actually spent 30 cents each week on postage.  That would break me up today as I do a daily blog and postage has gone up.  So, I appreciate the send button on my computer.  No postage, no delays and no missed deadlines are great.  Isn’t today a great improvement?  

When I got my first book ready for publication I made sure that each page was “plate” ready for printing.  Then the publisher told me they don’t use plates anymore. It is the digital age, my friend.  I was shocked, but not unhappy.  Plate ready takes a lot more time.  It freed up my writing process and my more recent books have been easier to write and prepare.  I won’t abandon the discipline of the “good old days” but I will enjoy the advantages of today. 

One important thing hasn’t changed, however.  The God who was so great in the “good old days” is still great today.  When we complain, we are really complaining in the ears of God who is still alive and active today.  He is still at work on earth and in His Church.  Nations that received missionaries in the “good old days” are now sending them.  New means of communication have enhanced the delivery of the Gospel to so many more people that we must constantly praise God for the advancements made.  As we look back with delight at what God has done, let us look more eagerly forward to what God is going to do tomorrow and on into the future.  

As we prepare for the New Year enjoy this nearly forgotten hymn from the “good old days” by Carrie Breck.  “I go to meet another year, with faith no doubt can dim, God reigneth, and I will not fear, but trust my way with Him. Then if that way be bright or dark,
let peace unshaken be! And let me, like the soaring lark; sing God is good to me!”

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