Don’t you wish sometimes that you could go back and tell your younger self some important things about life? I am not sure my younger self would listen to any advice, but as I prepare to pass the 65-year mark in my earthly journey in a few days, here are five things I wish I had known when I was young:

1.  Life Goes Fast

I wish I had known that life goes by so fast … too fast! It seems to speed up the older I get. It’s like you’re traveling down the highway of life and the distance markers go by quicker and quicker. I wish I had stopped and taken the time to smell the roses, stopped to help someone on the road and that I had pulled over more often and taken that dirt road because I probably missed something beautiful while I was so focussed on getting to my destination.

2.  Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

I was naïve when I was young, like most people. I believed almost everything I was told. Later in life I discovered some of those things were a lie. Most of us are gullible when we are young, but I really wish now that I had learned earlier that the Bible always speaks the truth and that not all humans do.

3.  Friends Are Important

The older I get, the more value I see in friendships. I wish that I could go back and take more time to bless the friends God brought into my life. Friends increase in value the older I get because good friends are so hard to come by, and I think I took mine for granted.

4.  Today Counts Forever

All the “todays” in my life seem like a blur now. Being young at the time, I thought I was invincible, and death was the furthest thing from my life, but I started losing family and friends to the grave. I should have realized that right now counts forever. None of us have any guarantee of tomorrow. How I wished I had told my friends and family members how much I loved them and needed them. For many, it’s now too late.

5.  Money Is not Everything

Money is not the most important thing in my life. When I was young, I thought that the pursuit of money and the acquisition of things was the main goal in life. Later on, I realized that people are so much more important than things, and that includes money. You can always get more money, but you cannot always get more good relationships. Too often I placed money or things above people, but I realize today that I had it backwards.

Conclusion

I could also include the fact that we shouldn’t burn bridges because we might need to cross back over them again. Also, we shouldn’t be afraid to take risks because great rewards come from great risks. I would also be less afraid to make mistakes because that’s how I’ve learned so much in life. Make them, learn from them, and grow as a result.

Today I don’t have any real regrets. Life is good. God is good. I take advantage of the time that I have left and have discovered that my purpose in life is to glorify God and to be a faithful witness for Christ. That lesson was worth waiting for.