Nostalgia

"We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it."~George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, 1860

I loved it when we could ride our bikes all day long without worrying about traffic or people who had evil purposes. We never locked our doors. We didn't have to worry about what was on the television...though I do remember my parents not allowing my little sister and me to watch Laugh-In, which made us all the more curious. By the way, this was the day and age before remote controls so we literally had to get up out of our chairs and turn the sound down or change the channel. We watched Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, The Donna Reed Show, Make Room for Daddy, Father Knows Best, Red Skelton, The Wonderful World of Disney, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Jack Benny, The Ed Sullivan Show...and of course Captain Kangaroo and Captain Jinks & Salty Sam...so much good entertainment. Many of the channels went off the air after the news. You knew when you heard the national anthem the station was about to shut down for the night. We went to church and Sunday school on Sunday morning and again to church on Sunday night and again on Wednesday night for Prayer Meeting. I didn't always want to go to every service, but now I'm glad I did...I needed that moral fiber, though I didn't think so at the time. It kept me pretty much out of trouble.

In the summer, my curfew was when it started to get dark. My parents just wanted to know where I was and they seldom worried what I was doing. I spent my time riding my bike with my dog Sally in my basket, playing with the neighbor kids, catching lightning bugs, playing tag, badminton, wiffle ball, going to the corner drug store for a vanilla phosphate or chocolate coke...if I had no one to play with, I would make it up. Oh, I loved those days. Don't misunderstand me. I enjoy my computer, my cell phone, and my microwave. I don't know what I'd do without my digital camera or my DVR. I'm glad I've grown up. I think what I'm talking about is going back to our values...going back to the days of God being important in the lives of us and our nation. Being concerned about praying for our country, our world. Living in a town where evil was rare...and being people of good character who look to the Bible for moral direction.  We need to get back to those good ole days...

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."~~~Romans 12:12  NIV