As you start each day, we have two options. Your first option is to look back...into the past. Your second option is to look forward...into the future.. As you get into your car, you have those same two options. Your first option is to look forward...through the windshield...new adventures, new opportunities, new ideas, new direction. Your second option is to look backwards...through the rear view mirror...past successes, past failures, past life lessons. Both options are important...necessary in fact. The Mirror: While looking in the rear view mirror (our past), we will see our successes, we will see our failures we will see our life lessons. However, we will also see God's hand at work in our lives...God walking with us...God holding us up...God directing our path...God using us to do His work. Have you ever weathered a storm and then looked back to see how God's hand was at work through the entire situation? How God was there...walking with you through the storm? Although it is not always fun to remember our failures, they too are an important part of looking through the rear view mirror (our past). It is by looking through the rear view mirror that we view our mistakes most clearly...how we see what those mistakes have done to other people...what important lessons we have learned through our mistakes. Winston Churchill said it best when he said "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Although we learn a lot by looking into the rear view mirror (our past,) we cannot allow ourselves to be stuck in the past. If we spend too much time concentrating on what is behind us, we will miss all the things that are ahead. The Windshield: When we look through the windshield...we see opportunity, direction, adventure...all the beautiful things that God has waiting ahead. "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 Don't get stuck in the past: The windshield measures approximately 50" X 30"...prefect for viewing what lies ahead. The rear view mirror measures approximately 10" X 3"...a perfect reminder to spend only enough time looking into the past (behind you) to gather the information that you need to continue traveling (safely) forward. We should not live in regret from past actions. We have to forgive the past, forgive others and forgive ourselves. Then we must look ahead and know that we are not traveling alone. God sees...God loves...God knows! I have prayed for each of you today! Look forward and know that you are not traveling alone. Learn from the past...look towards the future! Have a blessed day!
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