A new year is like a new love relationship …
When a relationship is fresh and new there is so much excitement, so much possibility.
But, a new love relationship cannot be fully enjoyed if we continually look back to life before this love entered our life. If someone in a new relationship continually reminisces about previous love interests, the future does not look so attractive.
Similarly, a new year is fresh and there is great excitement and possibility. It is a clean slate, on which you can write your hopes, dreams and intentions (and resolutions).
But, as this new year gets going it will be tempting to talk about the events of the past. The amazing Valentine’s truffles that you enjoyed last year, or the tiptop physique you had a few years back (like a decade or two ago), or the year you read through the entire Bible (which, coincidentally, coincided with the college course you were taking on ‘reading the Bible in a year’), or how well behaved your children were when they were little (you cannot remember where you left your wallet this morning and you expect me to believe that you can remember how well behaved your children were forty years ago?).
So, lets focus on where we are going, and on what is ahead. It means we need to embrace the reality of life today, and this year, not living in the past.
Looking back happens, but to move forward we need to be facing forward, not glancing back!
“One thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal
to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14
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