I was sixteen years old and had just broken up with a serious boyfriend in high school. I went on a one-woman road trip with a huge box in my trunk that contained only one thing: hundreds of letters from him.
In those days I had quite a dramatic flare, so I drove several hours to clear my mind of him (while shouting out favorite liberating songs in the car ride) and stopped at the Natural Bridge near the state border.
I opened my trunk, pulled out the letters and walked to a place under the bridge where no one was around. I dug a hole and buried the letters there, covering them with enough heavy Georgia clay to ensure they would never be unearthed again.
I did this for one reason: in my teenage brain, the letters represented a part of my life that I was declaring as “FINISHED.” I wanted those memories buried forever so that I wouldn’t read them again and somehow convince myself that “it really wasn’t that bad” because I now knew the truth: he was wrong for me and I didn’t want to look back.
Forgetting What is Behind
When God calls us forward on our journey with Him to something new, different, and better – it can be scary. We can be tempted to look behind us and think, “it was better back there.”
An example in Scripture is Lots wife. When God sent angels to lead Lot and his family out of Sodom (because He was going to destroy it due to the pervasive evil there) Lots wife picked the wrong moment to be nostalgic. She looked back and became a pillar of salt.
We can learn one thing from Lots wife – don’t look back longingly on something God has forsaken.
If God has forsaken something and told you to move on, take His hand, walk forward, and don’t look back.
Giving God “The Good Old Days”
Sometimes, however, our past memories aren’t that bad. In fact, when we look back we may say, “I was doing great things for God then and my life was wonderful!”
There are many times when I am faced with screaming children and dirty diapers that I am tempted to look back longingly on seasons of past “glory days”: You know – those days when the sun was shining, you got 8 hours of sleep, and it seemed that all you touched turned to gold?
The problem with this kind of reflection is that it only serves to cast a discontented shadow on the present (which God has clearly provided) – and this is not okay.
While it is right and helpful to reflect on and treasure good memories of your past, remember: What God has called you to do today is your greatest gift and you must esteem your work highly.
Release the painful parts of your past to your Heavenly Father – He has redeemed you and made you a “new creation” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Refuse to live in your past. Your greatest times in life, your greatest adventures and stories have yet to be written.
Shake off the dust, stand on the starting block, fix your gaze on Christ, and run where He is calling you!
