What's Stopping You?

No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead

Philippians 3:13 

 

 

I've been looking at some photos of my family from the time my Dad was a toddler.  Whilst waxing nostalgic for a bit, my mind began to wander to some of the events in my own past that still bothered me more than a little.  Yes, I know, "the past cannot be changed."  I've heard, and said, that more times than I can count....so apparently, I don't listen to myself or others.  Or perhaps I do, and then, during times of stress my mind responds by exhuming what I thought had been buried long ago.

 

The more I pondered (being that I like to think about things), a few reached 4 conclusions:

    1.   The past has happened.

                  It may have been painful.

                  It may have been distressing.

                  It may have been humiliating.

                  It may have been horrible.

                  It may have even been terrifying.

 

   2.  The past is no more.

                  The memories may haunt you.

                  The scars may scare you.

                  The lessons may be painful.

                  But the past is not the present.

 

   3.  The past helped shape you.

                   The bad parts act like sandpaper.

                   The good parts act like polish.

 

   4.  If you could change any aspect of your past, what would it be?  

                   This is a trick question: if you change any piece of your past, you would not be who you are now, nor who you will become.

 

Look at the photo....did the bicycle stop the tree from growing?  

 

"Every saint has a past every sinner has a future."