LOOK BACKWARD TO LEARN; LOOK FORWARD TO GROW

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have
taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is ahead”
(Philippians 3:13)

MEDITATION:
We can shape our thoughts, choose our actions, and move
through life with purpose, intention, and meaning; but only
if we look forward, and not backward.

Looking backward indicates an inability to let go of:
    past relationships, past mistakes, past choices, etc.
We all have something in the past that is hard to let go of,
but looking backward can be filled with regret, and/or sadness.

Looking forward, on the other hand, means learning from
the mistakes of our past, and focusing on what’s ahead. It
means having hope that what’s ahead of us is better than
what’s behind us. It means giving our attention to our future,
and not to our past.

The past is important, but looking forward
instead of backward is more productive:
    – We can’t change the past, but we can change the future.
    – We will miss out on opportunities if we are always looking back.
    – When we look back, we aren’t moving forward.

Perhaps the reason we struggle to let go of our past is
because there’s still something we can learn from it.
Maybe we haven’t fully processed the emotions of our
past, and they’re still floating around inside of us…unresolved.

The mistakes we made in the past are in the past; they are
irreversible (we cannot change them). We should learn some
valuable lessons from our past, but we should avoid spending
too much time playing the “shoulda-woulda-coulda” game with
some things that have already happened.

We need to give a little grace and mercy to our ‘past self’ for 
being a different person back then, with different priorities 
and different beliefs. Forgiving ourselves will help us make 
peace with our ‘past self’, which will help us to stop dwelling 
on those mistakes that we’ve been beating ourselves up over.

ACTION:
Gratitude is a good way to pull us out of the past and into
the present. It forces us to think about what we have now,
rather than thinking about what used to be.

Gratitude can help us look to the future with hope as we
recognize all the beautiful parts of our life that are aligning
with each other to help us live a happier, more fulfilled life.

Get alone with God and discover what He wants from your
life in order to do His will. And, don’t look at what He wants
you to do as a burdensome task, but consider it a blessing that
He wants to use YOU.

Nehemiah was a man who knew how to get alone with God.
He fasted, prayed, wept, and then God told him what to do.
Have you done that? Have you sacrificed and surrendered ‘
to the Lord to discover His will for your life? Or, are you just
putting yourself into neutral and letting life happen to you?

Do you have a focus? God has something that He wants you
to do. That means you are special to God.
Nehemiah said,
    “…I had not told anyone what my God
     had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem….”
     (Nehemiah 2:12)
If you’ll listen, God will put something in your heart as well!

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to leave the baggage of my past
behind, and press on toward the future by following the path
You have created specifically for me to follow. I pray that I
will not look to my left or right and compare the path You
have for me with the paths You have created for others. Help
me to strain toward what is ahead and to listen to the things
You have put on my heart. Father, help me to realize that when
I stay on the path You have created for me, I will become a
contributor to Your earthly ministry, and that will open the
open the door to new blessings in my life.”

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