We live in a world today that really has a totally confused and almost entirely lost system of values. What I mean is that we seem to place high value on unimportant things and people, and little, if any, value on the most significant and important things and people who live and work in and around our personal life.
Permissiveness runs rampant throughout all levels of society from the very young juveniles all the way to the oldest of the “seniors.” People just don’t seem to care as much about helping and serving one another as they used to care about them. Many people today do not even know the names of the people or families who live next door. They have no interaction with their neighbors and have little or no communication with them. It seems like folks just don’t care much about the other people living in and around them. Maybe it is because we just are so very selfish that we think we have no time for other people. What a terrible way to live.
I personally believe that this situation has developed because of many different and varied reasons. The pace of living for our society as a whole has speeded up. Many members within our personal environment and communities have checked out, refused to participate in group responsibilities, and failed to carry their own share of the “societal load.” Many have “turned a blind eye” to improper or immoral personal behavior. Half of the eligible voters fail to go to the polls on election days. Breaking the laws of the land is acceptable human behavior and goes unpunished with little, if any, consequences. Crime rates have risen. Societal “vices” have been allowed to explode throughout all of the age groups. We, all of us, have failed or continue to fail to teach our own children high moral values, proper personal social manners and speech, and good social etiquette.
It just seems that people, parents, and even grandparents have failed or are failing to do what God has given them the responsibility and instructions to do. Our Creator specifically instructs us to treat one another exactly in the manner and way in which we ourselves want to be treated by other people. Furthermore, He teaches us to love and care for one another. God charges us, as procreators of new generations, to properly instruct and raise up ourselves and our offspring in the godly manner and way that we and they should go. He wants us all to become honest, God-fearing, contributory, and respectful members of society.
Our high-tech, fast-paced, built-in-obsolescence lifestyle just keeps influencing and moving (shoving) us all to live in our own selfish ways. All too often we forget about those other people living around or with us, or we fail to consider what the impact of our own decisions or actions might have or might do to such other close-proximity people.
Often times we overlook or even forget about the less fortunate men and women in our society and are too eager to condemn and criticize such ones as these instead of giving them a helping hand and a lift up.
I believe it is time we all,… particularly those of us who are Christian Believers,… slow down our pace of life. It is high time that we get off our “selfish horse” and begin to get to know and care more about those other people with whom we share living space on this earth. God’s Word specifically tells us that if we want to be the greatest among other people, we must become the “servant-to-all.” Therefore, it is having a “servant’s heart” and not a “selfish heart” that provides the key to treating other human beings properly. Submission and obedience to God and His Laws is what brings to you personally all of His power, blessings, and rewards. Rebellion against God and His Laws brings you only long term suffering and misery. You choose which result you want to have in your life. That power of choice is your God-given right. God will never interfere with the using of your God-given right(s). However, you should not forget that all decisions and choices you make carry with them significant consequences.
I spent the past two weeks hunting Canadian geese with four of my old college friends and buddies. It was a wonderful, loving, and hilarious week of camaraderie, story telling, and experiences-recalling. Good and even a few bad memories were told and retold. We laughed and we even cried at some of the memories and experiences of the past, present, and anticipated future. As is true in all of God’s Creation, good and proper people, things, and relationships all get better with the passage of time. This great truth of life certainly was proven to remain true today. What joy it is to be around one another who call themselves old friends, when your relationship with them is a long-term personal relationship that continues to grow and bless each other as the years continue to roll by.
The hunting was great. The food was wonderful. But…the time together with “old friends” was what was the best of it all. Now I want to make a point that these men with whom I spent two weeks have been trusted friends for nearly fifty years. We are each individually “different” as regards our personal choices, beliefs, and lifestyles. But we are foremost good, close, and committed friends. It is exactly for these three reasons that now, as senior citizens, we continue to spend time together and share physical, emotional, and even spiritual experiences.
As I have aged and my life experiences continue, I am finding that it is my real, true, and committed friends that have my greatest respect and value. I have weathered some incredibly violent storms-of-life over the past nearly seven decades. While I am proud and honored to be able to say that I have many friends and associates, it is the oldest, proven, committed friends who have always been there for and with me, whether we always agreed or not, that I most value, treasure, respect, and admire.
There are really three incredibly beautiful attributes or characteristics that exist as regards your good and close long-term personal friends. These three attributes are: 1-Memory, 2-Quietude, and 3-No Explaining.
- As we age, good friends still remember each other as we existed when we were young. Good caring friends still see that handsome young man or that beautiful young woman, and they remember how much fun we all had whenever we were enjoying time together. Good memories are extremely valuable assets.
- Whenever good friends spend time together, even when there is complete and total silence between them, things are totally comfortable and respectable between or among each other. There exists a quiet, comfortable peace that surrounds old friends whenever they are together.
- Whenever good friends gather together, they can pick up right where they left off the last time they were together and they spoke to or saw each other. There is never any need to go into a long storied explanation or account as to why they haven’t called, written, texted or e-mailed one another. They just seem to understand perfectly why they have missed communicating with one another because they just know each other so well. It is often the case that old friends can easily communicate with one another even when they are not physically together, or not speaking directly to each other. They just seem to know,…to feel,…to understand…what the other person is saying.
Old friends,…old good friends, are our most valuable possessions. They are priceless. They are always with us even when they are not in the immediate and same area. They are always “together with us” even when they personally are not there physically. They always love each other. They are always “there” for each other. In short, they always love and truly do care for each other.
Song writer and television broadcaster, Bill Gaither, wrote one of the most beautiful and powerful songs about real true “Old Friends.” The lyrics are shown below. As you read these lyrics and finish this discussion, I want you to seriously think about your own life and the lives of your real close personal “old friends.” Once you have finished reading, may I suggest you pick up a telephone and call your top “best friends” and tell them once again how much you truly do love and appreciate them for always being there for you and for sowing so much good into your own life.
Old Friends
“Old-friends, after all of these years,
Just old friends, through laughter and tears,
Old friends, what a find, what a priceless treasure,
Old friends, like a rare piece of gold,
My old friends, make it great to grow old,
Old friends, with all I will hold to…old friends.
Now God must have known, there’d be days on our own, we would lose the will to go on,
That’s why He sent, friends like you along.
Old friends, you’ve always been there, my old friends, we’ve had more than our share,
Old friends, we’re all millionaires, in old friends.”
May God continue to richly bless you, my beloved.
Peace and Love to All of You………………Poppa Bear
