A few years ago, we visited the Mast General Store downtown. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I came to a section of toys from not only my children’s childhoods, but from mine as well. I didn’t know some of those toys were still made.
Little Golden Books have a warm place in my heart because I read many of them to my kids, and I remember some from my childhood.
Going through boxes in our shed, My husband and I discovered high school and college notebooks as well as letters from our parents and cards our children had made for us when they were small.
When we talk about the price that things used to be, I’m reminded that the half-pint milk cartons served at our school cafeteria used to be five cents. I remember when McDonald’s first became a company, their commercials said that you could get a hamburger, fries, and a soft drink and still get change back from a dollar.
I remember as a child in southeast Texas, hardly anyone had central air conditioning. After dinner in the evenings, people would bring lawn chairs out in the front yard and visit with neighbors while kids rode their bicycles up and down the street or ran through sprinklers. My dad took kids for rides on his little motor scooter.
We often look back on the past through a rosy glow. The “good old days” seem simple and idyllic.
But were they?
I see acquaintances my age on Facebook posting memes saying we need to get back to the way things were years ago. Our childhoods would have been in the 60s: the era of the Viet Nam war, civil unrest, the emergence of “free love” and the drug culture, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Cold War. Though our own neighborhoods seemed peaceful, the world at large was not. And who knows what we’re forgetting from our own childhoods: fights with siblings, school cliques, feeling left out.
It’s not wrong to ooh and aah over our old baby pictures or talk fondly about how things used to be. But the wrong kind of nostalgia errs in a few ways.
One error is a condescending attitude that everything was better back in our day, and everything should be done the way we did it. I’ve seen snarky memes that say things like:
- “We didn’t need to take water bottles with us everywhere we went. We drank from a hose and lived to tell about it.”
- “We didn’t have coping skills. We had chores and a ‘You’ll live.'”
- We didn’t wear helmets on our Schwinns. A fall and a few scrapes, and we were back to riding our bikes again.”
- “The world wasn’t wrapped in bubble wrap. We slid down hot metal slides and got splinters from wooden swings. That made us tougher.”
- “We didn’t go to Urgent Care for every splinter. Mom got out her tweezers.”
Some changes are good. Not everyone was so fortunate as to survive a bike wreck without a helmet on. Honestly, I cringe a little at the photo of us on the scooter without helmets. Urgent cares have been a great option when the doctor’s office isn’t open and one wants to avoid emergency room costs. People probably did have coping skills of some kind. These sayings mix truth with error, but they also seek to look down on everyone younger. How are we supposed to mentor or model Christlikeness to them or encourage them with attitudes like that?
Another nostalgic error is discontent when we long so much for past days that we can’t enjoy the present. Jen Wilkin writes in None Like Him: “There is a difference between missing the past and coveting the past. The antidote for covetousness is always gratitude: We can combat a sinful love of the past by counting the gifts we have been given in the present” (p. 75).
We fail to appreciate what we have and what we’re to do in the present if we are preoccupied with the past or think it’s all-around better.
Sure, young people do things differently than we did. But we did things differently than our parents did, too, didn’t we? If we’re always talking down to them about how our ways are better than theirs, we’ll just widen the generation gap. Where there are legitimate causes for concern, we do better to approach people where they are in love and speak from Scriptural truths, not cultural contexts.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 tells us “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”
There are things God wants us to remember and learn from the past and to anticipate and plan for in the future. But He has given us this present moment to live and serve in, to love Him and others.
Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The KJV phrases it “redeeming the time.” To quote Jen Wilkin again, “Redeeming the time requires being fully present in the present” (p. 76).
May God give us grace to enjoy His blessings and lessons from the past, but to be content with where He has us now and about His business ministering to others.
(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)
(Special note: I don’t usually post on Mondays, but I’ll be celebrating my 20th blog birthday with a giveaway tomorrow.)
Stray Thoughts 
Some memories are good and others are not. We can learn from the past. I have wonderful memories from my childhood. I made mistakes and didn’t always follow the rules. But, I learned. Thank you for reminding me of childhood fun and laughter. Have a blessed weekend! š
I’m so glad God redeems our mistakes and helps us learn from them.
Thanks for sharing. Ecclesiastes 7:10 captures it well: use the past to build a better today and tomorrow, while keeping our memories in our hearts.
That’s a great summation, Debby.
I definitely have a sentimental/nostalgic side (see some of my blog posts!). I don’t know that I so much want to return to those times — as you say, some things were good, others not. It’s interesting to me to contemplate the various eras of my life and reflect that my childhood, for instance, almost seems like it’s another life happening in a whole different world. That verse from Ecclesiastes is convicting for sure! I enjoyed this post.
I was hoping you wouldn’t think I was talking about your childhood memories posts. š I enjoy those, and they have sparked similar enjoyable memories. And it’s true that it can years to process things that happened in our earlier lives.
I think it’s true that some things were better in years past–but some things are better now.
I was mainly concerned by the tone behind some of those snarky memes about “everything was better in our day.” Then coming across that comment by Jen Wilkin again, it seemed to fit.
Such a good post and oh, so true! I was thinking of the verse in Ecclesiastes and glad you shared it. It’s easy to remember only what we want and forget the hard and bad. Blessings. . .
Amen! I also hear such negative and discouraging remarks about the days we live in being so much worse than the older days. I appreciate the history, but I don’t appreciate the foreboding comments about today. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow”
Your closing quote is so apt! God is with us wherever we are.
So interesting! That scripture is perfect for this post!
Such wisdom here, Barbara! You bring out such good points regarding how we communicate with those younger than ourselves and whether or not we have a condescending attitude rather than having a Christlike way of relating with them.
When I was reading down over the list of things that transpired in our days of growing up, my first thought was, “And we call those the good old days”? But the next thing I thought of was how we didn’t have all of the technology advances then that we do now, so we didn’t receive the news as quickly nor was it as widespread then as it is now.
Thanks for giving me some things to ponder this week.
Yes, we would be wise to take a balanced and realistic approach to our remembrances of the past. Undoubtedly there is much we can learn from past generations and from the way we used to do things, but it isn’t helpful to have a superior attitude or to be bemoan the passing of time as if we could freeze it. Thanks for a practical lesson today!
This post is certainly a trip down memory lane! I remember my first trip to the MAST store and all the candies and toys I remember from my childhood. I love nostalgia and have lots of it around my home. My mother and grandmother were great collectors and I have a few of their special things. In fact I had to giggle at your half-pint milk containers for 5 cents. I was just thinking of memories the other day and for me at school, white milk was 2 cents and chocolate milk was 3 cents.
I’ve occasionally been one of those who wish for the “good ol’ days.” Mine childhood happened in the 50s and I remember being happy and content. The 60s brought all the turmoil – hitting me right during the high school and teenage years. Through the years, I’ve realized that God has put me on this year at a particular time and I’m living more in the present.
Great post!
Making an idol of the past! Wow, that’s convicting…
And we mustn’t forget life before antibiotics and the polio vaccine. When I think about the past, I imagine my grandmother carrying the massive amount of water I use in canning green beans from a pump that was outside in the yard.
There’s always something to be thankful for.
So much wisdom in this post, Barbara! You took me down memory lane about the toys … my girls played with Tinker Toys and my childhood Legos, and I still have them in case we ever have grandchildren. š I didn’t wear a bike helmet as a kid but it’s probably not a stretch to say my bike helmet saved my life last year. So yeah, certain things are worse now but others are definitely better! The passage from Ephesians is so helpful for life in 2026!
Barbara, your post brought to mind Acts 17:26 where Paul reminds us that God determines our appointed times and places in which we live. Much wisdom in this post. We can remember the past, learn from it, enjoy the memories but then we are to live fully present in the time God has given us. Wonderful post!
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Thank you for sharing with us at SSPS 421. You are being featured on Monday
This is fantastic! You are so right here. I’m not much of a FB person though I do have it, I just don’t get on it much. But I love Pinterest though. And one of my favorite things is to browse nostalgia. This is such a poignant message today.
Thanks bunches for sharing with Sweet Tea & Friends this month Sweet friend.