Reminiscing

          Ten years ago on May 23, I graduated from high school.  It is hard to believe.  This whole month has been full of reminders of my years in school.  It all started with one of my elementary school friends posting our 6^th grade class picture.  Her picture received over 300 comments and someone created a group for those of us who attended Luke Elementary together.  Reading through some of the posts and reconnecting with those people I knew as a child has brought back so many great memories.  A couple weeks later, a group was created for Checotah High School’s class of 2003 reunion planning.  Seeing all these faces from the past has led to a lot of reflection on my life.  It is amazing how much I have experienced and learned over the years.  Memories are also incredible, like how we can recall events and people from just a picture or a few words.  I am grateful that God has given me good memories to cherish from my past.  I am also grateful that God has used the mistakes of people around me and my own failures to teach me and strengthen my faith.

            I know that I have been taught not to dwell too much on the past, and I will admit that I have been thinking of those “good ol’ days” a lot lately. I am sad to say that those carefree days of childhood are gone, but sitting here and wishing for them to come back will not get me anywhere.  Dwelling on regrets is another dead-end thought process.  It does not matter now what I did or did not say or do back then.  It is all in the past; it’s over; life must go on.  We have all heard these clichés, and yet those 300 comments prove that many people are past-dwellers.  Let’s see what God has to say about this:
 “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.” Ecc. 3:15
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am making a new thing!” Isa. 43:18-19a

          I think that what these and other verses are saying is that while there is nothing wrong with reminiscing, we should not let our pasts control us.  We should learn from mistakes and not repeat them.  Another thing I’ve learned over the years is that there are so many things that are out of our control.  There will be times when we feel extreme sadness or disappointment and there will be times of excitement and bliss.  But when one chapter ends and another begins, do we linger in that chapter or allow the story to move on as we enter the next one.  In other words, life will change; what is today may not be tomorrow.  I’m sure God does not mind if we look back and smile at past experiences, but He does not want us to stay there.  In times like these, Christians should be on high alert to what is currently going on.  We can’t all just long for days of old, or regret choices made in the past.  We also should not yearn too much for the future.  God has a plan for each of us right here and right now!

P.S. I hope that this post makes sense.  I feel as though I started going one direction, but then ended up going somewhere else. There was also a gap in time between when I started and finished writing. I didn’t have much time to edit, but I thought I’d share my thoughts anyway.  Feel free to ask for clarification on any points, and thanks for reading :)