Fellow columnist Mark Miller often uses his weekly words to lament — or celebrate … I’m not sure — his tendency to age each year, and certainly, at 72, Mark has secured the right to journey through the valley of the shadow of nostalgia — or curmudgeonliness … again, I’m not sure.

I don’t know if I, at only 42-years-old, dare join him on his journey, but I dared to indulge this week as I read a rough draft from a column at least a decade old:

(And if anyone doubts my qualifications to reminisce, I should note that an 18-year-old recently asked me a question that started with the phrase, “Back in your day …”)

“As we drag ourselves through the post-holiday blues of winter,” I wrote in that draft, “I propose another holiday to help us survive: National Steal Your Uncle’s French Fries Day. You can celebrate it anytime you eat out with your 6-year-old nephew.

“Nephews have the patience of a humming bird and the appetite of a killer whale, and while he waits for his cheeseburger, he’ll relentlessly maul your French fries like a piranha.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure that a piranha would show more restraint.

And unless you stop him (which will require duct tape or a sedative) or distract him (which will require something he can attack his sisters with), you will order your lunch again.”

Now a 19-year-old man, nephew Canyon presumably wouldn’t steal my fries anymore, but in 2021, Canyon’s sister Timber gave birth to Brooks Michael McClain, and perhaps Canyon will one day celebrate National Steal Your Uncle’s French Fries Day with him.

And perhaps one day, Brooks will celebrate it with his own nephew (which will require siblings. Hint, hint, Timber).

The more things change, the cliché states.

But Moses states in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Like a field in the spring, each day promises potentially precious memories that can blossom for years, but people will only harvest them if they turn their eyes away from this life’s cares and vanities — particularly its digital distractions — and purposely plant seeds through fellowship, forbearing, charity, laughter and tears (and regular meal times will help).

Moses also included a genealogy early in the Bible, perhaps to further remind readers that they can use those numbered days and their anonymous moments to either bless or burden people for generations to come.

Because of the faithful legacy of Adam’s son Seth, for instance, Noah walked in righteousness and found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Cain’s lineage, however, included Lamech, the world’s first recorded adulterer and second recorded murderer.

Perhaps Cain didn’t think his decisions would eventually create such a tidal wave of evil, but subtle compromises never advertise their intentions when they tempt one generation; they instead assure people that a little complacency or a little sin will remain little, while convincing the next generation to compromise “just a little more …”

And eventually, the sin one compromises with today becomes the sin someone celebrates tomorrow.

Fortunately, the righteousness one pursues today becomes the righteousness someone consistently practices tomorrow.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches,” Jesus said in Matthew 13:31, 32.

One day King Jesus will return to reap the harvest of that righteousness, and those who stayed true to His Kingdom will enjoy an eternity of moments to make new memories (though the Bible doesn’t say if restaurants on the new earth will serve French fries, but I digress …).

Until that day, though, the Apostle Paul tells Christians, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time,” Paul also told the Colossians.

And if Christians do, they too can leave a legacy of Timothys and Tituses, and they too can say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”

baumofchet@gmail.com