Windshields & Rear View Mirrors

I don’t even think twice about looking out the front windshield when I am driving; it is the way I learned to drive! What is in front of me is far more important than what is behind me when I am heading down the highway! The rear view mirror is smaller and is designed that way because we are only supposed to glance in it occasionally. I doubt I would find anyone who would argue with me.

In life it is easy to “drive” in reverse, but it shouldn’t be! Just as looking in the rear view mirror to drive is a bad idea, so is focusing on the past, becoming nostalgic for the “good ol’ days”. When our past consumes us, we can’t make good decisions for today and for the future. It is not healthy to pay more attention to where we have been than where we are going! I am not suggesting that we never look backward! It is important to remember and to learn from history. I am, however, reminding myself that time marches in one direction. I cannot relive or change the past, but I can live with little to no regrets for the future.

This is the season when I tend to spend more time trying to “back up” and gaze to longingly in my life’s rear view mirror. This is the season when Jim left earth for heaven and I find myself remembering those last days wistfully, wishing that I had a chance for one more goodbye. So that I live life with the right perspective on the past, I keep working on creating a place for those memories. I give myself permission to remember and then I close the “photo album of my mind” with intention so that I can get on with living today, creating new history as I go.

Lord, I want a windshield life.