The Good Young Days

The ‘good old days,’ they should be called the ‘good young days.’ You start out with nothing ahead of you but unfilled dreams, and then before you know you it, you’re hydroplaning down the high-way. You slide, “safe” right into home base. You’re shook up a little, but life is good and you keep right on trucking down the highway. You’re young and tough, you can tackle any obstacle. Life happens and before you know it you’re forty-five. Hair begins to thin. Little pot belly shows up, ‘Hello, where’d you come from. Maybe a jog would be nice. Oh no, that’s not going to happen.’ You eat dinner, sit in front of the ole tube, begin to watch something exciting, and before you know it your out cold, and snoring. All of a sudden something hits you right between your eyes. You jump fully awake, yell, ‘What’s going on?’ Looking around, have witted, you see the culprit. “What’s wrong honey?”

Then you turn sixty. The ‘good young days’ become the ‘good old days’ because you are living them. You’re old and you wonder, ‘Where did all the time go?’

Ever feel like that? Where’d the ‘good young days’ go?

If you’re let’s say, ten to thirty years of age, let me give you a tiny-bit of wisdom I’ve learned in my sixty-three years.

Slow down; don’t go so fast, take time to live each day better and happier. Stuff, just doesn’t matter. Don’t wait til your old to understand that.

Take care of your teeth. You’ve probably heard that before but it is true. When you reach my age it gets harder to chew.

Keep all the friends you make in life because there is nothing more valuable than good friends. And remember to be a good friend too, sometimes we forget that part. In order to have a friend you have to be a friend. Good advice from my dear departed mama.

Jobs will come and jobs will go but from the start do something you are really passionate about because you are going to be doing it for a long time and it’s much better to do something that makes you happy, and get paid for, than to be burnt out from doing something that’s mundane that drains your gifts and talents.

Kiss and hug the people you love often, as much as you can. All too soon they leave us and you will miss them terribly when they’re gone. Mend bridges and forgive as many times as it takes. Life is really very short don’t waste a minute of it fighting, and holding onto grudges. Just, like that “Frozen” song says, “Let It Go.’

Laugh and laugh and laugh. Laughter will heal many ailments and no one likes to be around a sour-puss…

Say your prayers. Talking to God is very important. Listening to him is more important.

Complement others and tell them how you really feel. Give respect and you’ll receive respect. Honor your parents. They brought you into the world and they can take you out…no just kidding. But God says, if you honor them you’ll have long life. And that’s a good thing. And remember to call them. They get lonely and love to hear from their children.

You’ll have some regrets; that’s just part of life, but you’ll have far fewer ones if you do what’s right and live upright before God and your fellow man.

You can kill more people with unkind words than a weapon. Use your words wisely.

Be honest, and true. Be polite and share. Work for what you have and don’t live above your means. Be responsible for what you do. And in the end when you look back on the ‘good young days’ you’ll be amazed what a full, beautiful life you’ve lived.

Take it from this old lady. Life is good. God is good. And though I have some regrets I have far more love and thankfulness in my heart for a life lived and blessed than all my sorrows. God is right; His peace goes far beyond my understanding. When you forgive you receive peace.

–Marla Shaw O’Neill April 11, 2017

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. Psalm 37:26 NLT

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 New King James Version (NKJV)

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones. Proverbs 17:22 New King James Version (NKJV)