I Enjoy Old Things, and That Includes Me!

I enjoy old things. So, that must include me, right? You may only want new things, but I remember what it was like back then, and even further than my years. My grandmother loved to collect old bottles from various dumping areas of her past, and then she would clean them and resale. There’s money in the old stuff!

You may not like old stuff. Allow me to be the opposite. I treasure old things! Including me! From Elsie the Cow that held the bottles in the crib for my generation, to the computers I hesitate to toss even though they don’t work. If I can’t own the exact item, then I look for a replacement on eBay or some other such site that includes old stuff. Browsing an antique store is more fun than looking at new things, even if they have things I desperately need!

Old. To me, old things represent history and value. They establish a baseline, and provide direction from the past to the present, and even into the future. I remember struggling to build a Crystal Radio when I was about seven years old. Dad agonized with me to wind the coil, and finally, it worked. You could only pick up one station and had to listen to it with an earplug. There were no transforms to strengthen the signal or amplify the sound. Baseline. Long before satellites played music across our stereos as we rode the miles across the years. I wish I had kept that ancient artifact! Memories of struggle and success.

While traveling on vacation, I repeatedly see old cars for sale and thought…hmmm…I could pick up a trailer and truck that car home! We even saw some yard art and patio furniture that would sure look good on that trailer!

We decided not to bite that bullet. Yet. There are still days ahead when we may just change our mind! But that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures and dreaming of the past! (Hence my photo…)

Back To My Subject

Don’t you love old people? I am one! It’s 2021, and the year is soon to end. I called my uncle this week for his 90th birthday celebration. Hey! Uncle Walter! Bappy Hirthday! Let’s aim for triple digits. Show me how to get there! That’s where I’m headed! That’s one reason I’m focused on age. I’m headed higher up that path! One trip around the sun after another! Just 23 more years and I’m caught up to him!

One of the things about age is the knowledge learned, experiences gained, and wisdom accumulated. Then you get to share and pass it on. Future generations should gain from our years, and that means you should be willing to share if they are willing to listen.

Here’s My Thought

God has been around for an exceptionally long time. Anciently old, you might say. Though we look at scripture that says he may do a new thing, we also look at the foundation of his promises and covenants. What we believe is not a flash in the pan, here today, gone tomorrow. It’s been here for a long time.

Psalms 77 points me down a path of considering where I am in the present, and how my deliverer and savior is of olden days. The first three verses points to the times of trouble, then pauses to think about life with the phrase “Selah” (Think on it!)

If you think about your problems for very long, you realize they were long in the making. From national, cultural, or genetic issues, even national issues, they make you face the issue today. Selah.

Then you think about your savior and how you belong to Him, and He belongs to you, yet you are in distress. Verses four through nine points you to the past. Not just yesterday, but a long way back. He’s been here for a long time.

I have considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times.
(Psalms 77:5 KJV)

You ask yourself if you have been abandoned! Is there no more mercy? Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Then you declare your God to yourself. You begin remembering His salvation and all the blessings of the past. You bring the old things into remembrance and stand upon the beauty of memory from ancient times.

I will remember the works of the LORD:
surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?
(Psalms 77:11-13 KJV)

This is why I enjoy old things. Bring on the new but take me down the pathways of my past. Let me find the bedrock of my existence. Give me the strength of the years. I like Old Things!