Yesterday and Today

I've spent some time the last few days on YouTube watching various videos of Peter, Paul, and Mary. For those who may have been living on a deserted island for the past 60 or so years, Peter , Paul, and Mary was a folk singing group organized in the early 1960's and continuing on most of the next fifty years until Mary's death in 2009. The group was, and continues to be an icon of the boomers as well as generations since.

Their concerts were wholesome and heartfelt, as were their songs. Suitable for children of all ages, Peter, Paul and Mary will be enjoyed by music lovers in generations to come, just as Sinatra, Martin, Glenn Miller and others of the earlier eras continue to be enjoyed by the generations of today.

But I don't write this to extol the virtues of the group or the individuals in the group. Sometimes as we age, we think back to earlier days and times. We sometimes wistfully wish we could transport ourselves back to those times. We long for the innocence of those times. And we do things like listen to those old songs indelibly imprinted in our conscience by groups and individuals we will never forget. The songs themselves sometimes take us back to specific times of our lives in ways that are unique to each of us.

God knew what he was doing when he created us with the capacity to remember, reminisce, and lose ourselves at times in memories of days and years gone by. Those memories evoke emotions and thoughts that help keep us grounded and give us a respite from the struggles of the present. They help us sort things out and appreciate what we enjoy now in life and living.

However, there is a danger in dwelling too much on the past. It's one thing to enjoy remembering and recounting one's life from time to time. It's quite another to live in that past as an escape from the present.

Nothing remains the same forever. Things change. The world changes. We change. Our thoughts change. Our opinions change. Our relationships change. Like it or not, time marches on, and we can either stay up with it or lose ourselves in the past. And to do that is to live in a reality of one's creation...not the reality that truly is.

So, put on those vinyl records of PP&M, The Carpenters, The Moody Blues, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews, The Righteous Brothers, or whoever else you enjoy. Enjoy them for a time. Remember. Recall.

Then, put them away and go out into the present. Live in the reality that is yours today. And as you do, remember the God who put you here and has given you the life you now enjoy.