"Focus Forward"

“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” --Louise Smith

 How much of our time do we spend focusing on what went wrong instead of what we can do next?  Personally, I will have to admit that if I’m not careful, I will spend more time focusing on the past instead of focusing on present and future opportunities.  Have we all made mistakes in the past?  Sure!  Rather than wasting time on yesterday that is gone, it is better to invest your time in tomorrow that is not yet born.  As humans, have an annoying habit of remembering things that we shouldn’t.  There is a lesson to be learned from the trees every winter; they are experts of letting things go. 

God’s amazing grace and power can break the power of the past to dominate our present and influence our future.  It is time to say good-bye to your past.  There is not one single thing you can do about it.  Let me share with you four things I have found about letting go of your past.

First of all, stop feeling sorry for yourself.  If the truth be known, you probably played a part in your disappointments.  I am sure there were times when you caught a break you didn’t deserve.

Second, decide to stop investing time in past thinking.  This is definitely an investment that has NO returns.  Think about what to do next instead of thinking about what went wrong.

Third, focus on today.  The only thing you can really control is what you do every day.  You can’t do anything about yesterday.  Thinking about today will take you out of your past.

Fourth, forgive.  Forgive yourself and also those who, by their actions, keep you living in the past.

 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14