\u201cGo, honey. Just go live a little and don\u2019t worry about failing. Everybody else is still getting their footing too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nI think the hardest spot to be in, as the years pass, is to get stuck on and in the past\u2014endlessly regretting decisions and life\u2019s turns or wishing for that one moment, turned golden and perfect in memory where everything seemed to fall into place. It leaves you unable to see the present or the future because you are forever turned inward and backward\u2014a grub digging deeper in the dirt.<\/p>\n
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells them to look forward, to \u201cstrain\u201d forward in fact. He of all people could have had reason to harbor some serious regret\u2014the man who persecuted so many early Christians before becoming one himself. Imagine all the good he would have curtailed if he couldn\u2019t get passed his whole \u201cSaul\u201d years. Or if he continually wished he could be that Saul again, the man with the power and the glory of the state.<\/p>\n
This is exactly what happens when we endlessly ruminate over what was. We clip and neuter all the potential God has for us in the years we have left. John urges us to confess past mistakes and move on<\/em>. God has already forgiven your past and your future and an excess of regret can make a martyr of you when He does not ask it or need it. He just wants your gratitude.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/old-2593955_1920.jpg?resize=587%2C391\")
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In a letter to his friend, Mary Willis Shelburne on June 5th<\/sup>, 1961, C.S. Lewis wrote:<\/p>\nWe must beware of the Past, mustn\u2019t we? I mean that any fixing of the mind on old evils beyond what is absolutely necessary for repenting our own sins and forgiving those of others is certainly useless and usually bad for us. Notice in Dante that the lost souls are entirely concerned with their past. Not so the saved. This is one of the dangers of being, like you and me, old. There\u2019s so much past, now, isn\u2019t there? And so little else. But we must try very hard not to keep on endlessly chewing the cud. <\/em><\/p>\nI would chew the cud until my teeth gave way if you let me. I would circle the past like dirty water in the drain until there was none of me left. The only recourse in the end is to stop thinking about me entirely. The happiest people, old and young alike, are the ones who spend most of their time looking out, at the world and the people in it, instead of into the dregs of their own teacups. It does no good to read and re-read our own fortunes when God has them all laid out neatly to be lived to the end.<\/p>\n
Sunday Thoughts Link Up!<\/strong><\/h1>\nIt’s time for another Sunday Thoughts Link-Up! I know there are many out there with wisdom that could encourage all of us. As long as it’s faith-based, I’d love for you to join up and then read and comment on what others have shared. Please also leave a comment here. Think of this as a Sunday morning community group that comes to you. And grab the button if you like…<\/strong><\/h3>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Sunday-Thoughts-Button.jpeg?w=1170\" "\\"The")
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