"Used To Be"

Ed and I watch "The Waltons" Monday through Friday from 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. We both love this show. As I was watching it last night I was thinking how much better in so many ways times "used to be". Not as far as conveniences go, there weren't "easy" ways to do things. Times were hard financially but many people still trusted in God and family was important. As I watch the Waltons I see family being involved in each others lives, communication was a key, they care greatly for their neighbors and help each other out, John helps Olivia, Olivia helps John, the children help their parents, sisters and brothers help each other, oh yeah they have their differences and they argue at times but you can just feel the love they have for each other just watching the show. We will never go back to these times but sometimes I wish we could. We have so many conveniences now and they are nice but just think of the conversations you can have just doing dishes together. I remember drying dishes with my mom and we would talk, I remember washing dishes and my brother drying them and we would talk. Now with times of texting and email we have lost the art of just communicating (I still talk to my mom and brothers, don't get me wrong, first of all they do not do "computers" lol). I have been working on a 1000 piece puzzle and it brings back memories of when I was home and we would work a puzzle together, it was fun. Ed and I do not use our dishwasher that often, not many dishes to do now lol, and you know what I kind of enjoy doing dishes with him, we talk and work together. Doing dishes is just one example of a "used to be" there are many, people helping people and actually being involved in others lives and not through technology. Ed and I have been reading a devotional together every morning. We have been reading "In God We Still Trust", a very good devotional. As we read this "used to bes" are very visible. We read about our founding fathers and those in leadership positions in our government, what a difference to today's leaders. Our founding leaders talk about God and how when we lose sight of Him we will fall as a nation, we have come to that place. It wasn't unusual for someone in office to speak of God in public, we need to go back to that place but instead we just keep falling farther and farther away from Him, how sad...we need to go back to this "used to be". As I was reading this morning, I read Psalm 12 it says "Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!" Wow, look around, this verse was written many years ago but how true it is for today, I guess maybe "used to bes" weren't always so good either. But I still think many "used to bes" need to come back to our families today and to our country.