So, my sister has started to learn how to drive – You have been warned! – and I’ve been helping her tackle the theory side of things. While looking through the Highway Code and theory handbooks, it’s surprising to see how much I’ve actually forgotten myself! Also, since helping her, I’ve started to analyse my own driving and have noticed that I’ve picked up some bad habits since driving solo (Oops!). For example: Using the Rear View Mirror. The main usage of mirrors when driving is, as we all remember the simple Mirror – Signal – Manoeuvre (and I’m sure we all do this…), using our rear view mirror to check what is behind us before moving off or changing directions etc, and throughout our journey to check what is behind and around us. However, I find myself often using my rear view mirror for another purpose: To be nosy! I’m usually focused on who is behind me and what they are doing, until I suddenly realise that I have no idea what is going on in front of me. Okay, it’s only a few seconds staring into my mirror, but anything could happen within that time of distraction, while I’m not fully concentrating on my present situation (just to clarify, I am a safe driver, I promise!).
For me, this illustration makes me think of how we sometimes can focus on things in our lives. It’s good to glance back to the past to see how far you’ve come, but if you stare for too long you’ll end up missing what’s right in front of you. I know I often find myself living in the past, wishing that things could have turned out differently to what they are now. Feeling disappointed is a natural emotion, but if you allow disappointment to reside for too long, you lose the focus on your current contentment and the blessings that are surrounding you now. Maybe there is an element of regret, guilt or pain from your past that is preventing you from looking forwards. Sometimes the past just seems to stay around, and we can’t let go of it. God doesn’t expect us to live in the past; He has forgiven all our past mistakes. Unless we can break the bad habit of focusing on the past, we will remained unmoved in our present.
“The pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming”
Romans 8:18
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See , I am doing a new thing!”
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
There’s a reason the rear view mirror is so small and the windshield is so big. It’s because where you are headed is much more important that what you’ve left behind. We need to shift our focus towards the path that is ahead of us.
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forwards to what lies ahead.”
Philippians 3:13
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Our past experiences help to mould us into the person God intends us to be. God has our journey all planned out and includes many detours and unexpected bumps in the road, not to trip us up but to move us to places where we will grow more in faith and strengthen our relationship with Him. It’s time to stop looking in the rear view mirror, leaving the past behind you, and striving to focus more on the present and the great things God has in store for you!
God Bless! 🙂
STEADFAST 