Friday, February 5, 2016

What’s Best Is Ahead From What’s Learned Behind

SOME of us, sometimes, are stuck in the future, because our pasts haunt us, and we agree: it’s no vibrant way to live.  Others of us are stuck in the past and cannot see hope nor a way for the future; we’re living in an unsatisfactory present.
Few people live mindfully, and at joy, in the present.  Few people are unencumbered by what’s ahead or what’s left behind.  But we can be one of the few.  We can choose to make the very most of what’s ahead and behind, rather than letting past or future dictate how we’ll feel.  We can choose.
God loves us most in that: he gives us choice.
Moving forward from a determined and contented present is always contingent on being content to leave what’s gone as gone.  The other half of the story is the practice of faith into the unknown vistas of what’s coming our way.
Future and past; these are not nemeses.  They’re lens through which to see life.  No matter how dark our past was, it is a ‘was’.  It’s gone.  And if there are any demons present from that bygone time, it’s possible in every case to heal from those experiences.  No matter how foggy the future looks, the future looks better with faith.  The future is not an enemy; it’s an unknown and unknowable thing, that’s all.
Ultimately, we land in this place and position:
You may think what’s ahead of you is impossible.
But look what’s behind you:
A history of God’s faithfulness…
And your obedience to keep stepping in faith and to not give up.
The more we keep going in life, leaving the past behind because it is what it is, the more we’re able to step hopefully into a future that beckons.
You’re an overcomer, because Jesus has shown you how.  You’ve been an overcomer and it’s incumbent on your hope to find your way back to those times when you’ve overcome the vast obstacles that have proven nothing but that they’re overcome-able.
***
It bears repeating, because it bears good reflection:
You may think what’s ahead of you is impossible.
But look what’s behind you:
A history of God’s faithfulness…
And your obedience to keep stepping in faith and to not give up.
The best is ahead if what’s behind is left behind.
What’s behind was there to teach us for what’s ahead.  Let’s use whatever we’ve learned to keep forging the path ahead.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.

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