Yesterday when I was young so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung

So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me, and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see

I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out, I never stopped to think what life was all about

Charles Aznavour

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them."

King Solomon, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 12:1, ESV

The fleeting years of our youth - do you remember them? When we are young we often feel "ten feet tall and bullet-proof", but the truth is that this is often the most fragile time of our lives. The reason for this is quite obvious when we are older, but it all too often escapes us when we are young. Like a sapling redwood tree, we are alive and resilient. The older trees cannot bend, and if they do, they usually "snap". Not so, with the young sapling, for when they bend, they can snap back into place as if nothing has happened. It is part of the protection that God gives to the young, I suppose, but it does not come without risk.

The song above tells why, and the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes does an even better job. Youth are so busy going from child to man that they often simply fail to think what life is all about. As a result, the young - still possessing a childish mind but now packaged in the body of a man - begins to experiment with all the things they desire to do. The cautions of the aged often fall upon deaf ears, for they are modern and the aged are just, well, old. So, we do what we want when we want with who we want, and we think that we will get away with it. And the truth is that for a while we do...

but then we, too, get older. And if we grow wiser as well, we will reflect upon what we are doing and catch ourselves. We will find out that God's way - the way of righteousness - really is the best way. Like the prodigal son who "knew everything" we will come to our senses and return to God. We will seek the forgiveness of God and of those we have wronged, and we will likely obtain those things. The trick, however, is to be able to forgive ourselves. This is something that many cannot ever seem to be able to figure out, so they will sink into a guilt-laden depression or, even worse, they will simply give up trying to be good and double down on the evil behavior of their misspent youth. But this is a path to destruction, not to life.

So, what is the solution? The most obvious is first going to have to be applied by those who are older. We parents have a great responsibility to train up our children in God's way. It will not be easy, and it will sometimes make you unpopular with these tyros that you are trying to mold into adults, but you must do it all the same. And just because the kids may not be yours does not relieve you of your part in helping these kids grow to men and women. I have worked with youth groups for over 40 years, and one of the most difficult things is to get through to these young people that God's way really is the best... but I know that I still have the responsibility to try.

There are also the teachers and coaches and law enforcement folks, as well as countless other people who will have ample opportunity to influence these young people. This example must be godly and as free from hypocrisy as possible. More than anything else, this influence must be one of love. 

The bottom line is that God's way really is the best way, and the sooner a child can come to believe this, the less pain that they will go through on their way to becoming an adult. I am not suggesting that we take all of the joy from their lives by restricting them from every activity that seems fun to them, but I am saying that we have a duty to teach them that they cannot enter into sin without someday experiencing terrible consequences for doing so.

As the songwriter said, there will come a time when time runs out for the fast-running youth. As Solomon said, there will also come a time when those who failed to learn the right path to take will find that there is no pleasure left in life. The things that the youth could so easily snap back from when a mere sapling will become the very things that break them when they are older. God would spare us from this pain that we cause to ourselves and to others if we would just listen to His counsel. 

For those who will listen, and listen before it is too late, they will find something quite pleasant. They will find that God's way allows us to advance from the vulnerabilities of youth and allow us to enjoy similar privileges to that redwood tree that advances beyond the fragile stages of the sapling to the mighty stages of the tall and straight tree that reaches is branches upward toward heaven itself. 

There are way too many people who have the regrets contained in the lyrics of the song above, as well as in the inspired words of King Solomon. But, for those who are wise - who can remember God in the days of their youth and learn to walk in His ways, there will be a great life! Even better, someday there will be an eternity with Him!

It may be that you have experienced the hard consequences of a misspent youth - welcome to the club! Now, you have a choice to make: You can either wallow in your past mistakes, or you can change your path. One decision leads to regret and death; the other to joy and life. The wonderful thing is that God will let you choose. So, why not choose life? You will be glad that you did, and you might then be able to help the next generation before they are tempted to plunge headlong into the same errors that we once made.