Forward Thinking
No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not as I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the and of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.More than dwelling on past failures and triumphs, I want to look forward to "what's next", and ultimately to what really matters at the end of it all. Paul, in his letter to the Philippian church, reminds them of his imperfection, and of his constant desire to press forward towards the goal, the prize. I want to be like that - the past pushing me forward, instead of the past holding us back.
- Philippians 3:13-14, nlt
The problem is that I don't know what lies ahead, what's just around the bend. I know God's there, already preparing the premises in some sovereign way / shape / form. If I knew what was coming, would I act differently? Would I make better choices, different choices? What is time, that moves so slowly yet so resolutely forward without asking us our opinions, our suggestions, our dreams or our plans? Eternity intersects right now - and is gone right now - and is potential right now. And we press on in spite of ourselves, hoping tomorrow will be better. Optimism, pessimism, realism - all going forward one minute at a time, day by glorious day.
What does it mean to me to really press on? It means not letting today's mistakes hold me back tomorrow. It means not letting tomorrow's troubles keep me from living life today. It means don't worry, be happy - life's too short to spend it anxiously awaiting trouble, so let's make the best of it and... press on. Wow, this post showed such potential at the beginning. Somewhere in the middle, it twisted into something less than Pollyanna, something a bit more than Chicken Little. That's what "pressing on" feels like to me.
posted by Rick @ 9:26 AM
4 Comments:
Rick,
It means, for me, not getting stuck on stupid. The past is the past. We can't ignore it, but we can't get stuck there either. Thanks for thinking outloud.
Lyn at Thought Renewal and my other blog, Fwd: Thoughts.
"not getting stuck on stupid" - i'm going to steal that one :)
I think it's a problem many of us have, but are unwilling to discuss. That fear or whatever of what lies ahead. But one thing I have to remind myself is remembering how christ said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow worries enough on it's own, do not say tomorrow I'll go here and there, but if it's God's will I'll go here and there." (or something like that.) Perhaps, it isn't optimism we should be having, but hope?
glad that sparked so much thought :) - i'll have some follow-up later this week, from my own sparks.
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