Don’t remember your past in terms of money made or successes gained. Look for all the goodnesses of God that you’ve lived to see!

Joanie and I were reminiscing this morning. We have lots to reminisce about (that comes from being older!) We were looking back at a home we built in 1979 right here in Coeur d’ Alene, less than two miles from where we presently live.

The house was a split entry with 1400 square feet on each floor. It was on a corner lot with about a hundred acres of alfalfa growing directly behind us. We built a cedar fence around the backyard and put in a beautiful garden. (The garden where our Cocker would stealthily slither under the plants to pick ripe pea pods!)

We talked about raising two sons in that house, about the fruit trees next to the garden, about the church we attended and the glorious summers of North Idaho shared with lifelong friends.

You probably spend time looking back and it can be enjoyable.

However, if the history you are recalling was as idyllic as those ten years were for us, you can begin to judge the years between then and now and say things like, “If we’d have stayed in that house that cost us $50,000 to build, it would be worth X number of dollars today!” When we judge the decisions of the past in terms only of money or position, we’re missing much. Neither tell the whole story of our complete lives.

We also need to remember the myriad ‘life-long’ friends we’ve made since then, in places like Denver, Portland, Seattle, the rich fertile central valley of California and more recently, our four acres of limitless view California high desert.

In all those places we picked up new special friends who have added to our lives in ways that we can’t fully comprehend. We’ve seen sights that we never would have gotten to see. We’ve watched the sun set behind pine trees, rugged mountain peaks and reflected off of lakes and rivers.

We’ve driven new roads through some of God’s most amazing handiwork and met strangers who appeared sent from God Himself to bestow a blessing of words or deeds. Some call those kinds of experiences ‘God winks’, and we’ve certainly been winked at a lot in our years… even those 38 years since we left our idyllic years at 4013 Staples, Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,

for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28 ESV