What Lies Behind

Now that Lindsey and I have lived in the Elkin area for almost a year, and we live on a small farm and we have our garden planted, we are attempting to become farmers.  At least in our own minds!  So with this in mind, I got a little yard tractor from my brother-n-law so that I could ride it through our garden and sing “Old MacJason had a farm E I E I O!”  The other day, I was going to plant a row of corn, so I got my tractor out, hooked up a plow (I knew that was the wrong implement but it was the only implement I had) and I attempted to plow a furrow in the soil.  Everything was going great, the tractor was moving on just right and I watched as the plow carved a valley in the soil.  I smiled with joy as I daydreamed about eating the corn at a cookout!  This whole gardening thing is no sweat!  I continued to watch the plow blade cut through the ground with ease!  Finally I turned around to see how much further I had to go when I realized I had gotten off course and gone diagonally across the garden!  Maybe I still have a thing or two to learn about gardening!?!

Spiritually speaking, life can be much like plowing a garden.  We were never created to focus all our time on the row behind us.  If we do that, then we lose sight of where we are supposed to be going.  If I had focused on an end point when I was making the furrow in my garden then my line would have been straight but because I was focused on what was behind me, my garden might look more like a corn maze!  

In life it is easy to spend all our time either looking back at the mistakes that we made or to look back at the glory days when we were younger and more vibrant than we are now.  But no matter how badly we want to go back or how much we wish we could redo those days, we cannot!  Yesterday is gone but we have today and it would be a shame to waste it.  

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14

This week I challenge you to let go of the past, both the regrets and the glory days, then focus on God and He will make your path straight!  (Pr. 3:5-6)