Luke 9:62 And Jesus said to him “No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God”. I was working in my kitchen, not paying attention to what was on TV. I began to feel sad and nostalgic. I heard a bugle sounding out “Taps” followed by a 21-gun salute; I realized that it was the funeral of our assassinated President, John F. Kennedy being shown in a documentary. I told my daughter to change the channel, do it quick! Suddenly I could not bear it, seeing the swollen face of Jackie behind that black veil, holding her expression still, with dignity, little John-John saluting as his dad’s coffin passed by. The pictures didn’t just bring back the funeral and the death of ‘Camelot’, but memories from that whole time era began to trickle then flood into every recess of my mind. I could feel exactly how I felt the day I watched that scene, our family all crowded around one black and white TV, to see people as they passed by. Whatever anyone’s political views were we were all united in the fact that the head of our country had been shot dead. Our nation felt another such blow when two airplanes, terrorists at the helm, crashed into the World Trade Center killing 2,752 souls. Where is the innocence of the people in the 8mm home movies, the ones waving and making faces and eating, always eating! I asked myself the question, “Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?”
When we spend too much time looking back whether it is to bask in the glory of that one long throw that hit the basket to end the game in a win, the long Hail Mary caught in the end zone, that beauty contest you won, or should have; babies grown with babies of their own, our parents so strong, walking without the aid of walking sticks or wheel chairs, and those that have gone on, waving as if to say, “Remember me this way, I’ll see you again, in heaven”, we get into a funk of depression and ‘what might-have-been’.
Isaiah 43:18 “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. I watched a pair of eagles, for two consecutive years as they built their nest and lay eggs then keep them warm until they hatched, and feed the young ones, they took such good care of them. But there came a day when mama eagle started stirring up all the comfortable lining of the nest, exposing bits of sticks and things that made the nest very uncomfortable for the young eaglets. Mother eagle took turns pushing them off into space then bringing them back. She made the nest more bare, more uncomfortable until finally there was no place to be lazy, that was when the parent eagles flew off for the last time leaving the young ones to finally fly away to create a nest of their own. God has a plan for our life but if we keep thinking about days gone by, trying to find that comfortable place to stay, we will never hear about the new plan! God will lead you, give you a cloud of protection by day and a warming fire at night, He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, but you have to keep walking in order to get to the Promised Land, He won’t pick you up and carry you there!
You can’t drive very far only looking in the rear-view mirror or win a race looing over your shoulder, so let’s forget past successes and past failures, pray for God’s will to be done in your life and look forward to see what God has for you!
Harolene.com 