Adjusting My Glasses

Key verse:  “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”  Philippians 3:13 (NLT)

We had a big laugh that day driving back from Walmart. The sun was brightly shining when we had left the store so I had put on my sunglasses. The storm had seemed to come out of nowhere and the sky turned dark within minutes. I kept telling my mom that I couldn’t see anything and that I might have to pull over. Then it finally dawned on me that the reason everything seemed so dark wasn’t just because the storm clouds had moved overhead but because I had forgotten to take my sunglasses off. My mom and I got such a laugh out of that silly moment. 

 I have a tendency to do the same thing in my spiritual life. I can so easily find myself wanting to view God’s plans for my life through the shades of my own expectations.  When I fail to look at my life through the lenses of God’s word, my view can easily become distorted and my perception darkens. It is also hard to maneuver through my roads of reality when I am constantly trying to make turns down the roads of what could have been or around the bends of past mistakes and even past successes. 

The last few years have held many changes in my life. Some I have eagerly welcomed and others I have fought tooth and nail to stop. God is penning my story a page at a time blending in all sorts of ups and downs through all kinds of weather. While some days have been sunny, some have been cloudy while others have been even windy and stormy.  

I will be honest and tell you I have grieved in this new chapter He is penning. Grieving over leaving friends behind and saying goodbye to things that were comfortable and normal. Then reluctantly being introduced to some new ones.  New ones like learning to do more and more things by myself due to my husband’s illness. 

I know God is making me a stronger version of me but some days I long for the carefree days of my past. This brings me to my key verse. “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”  Philipians 3:13 (NLT)

We all will have hard days when it takes effort to keep pushing through. We can easily stop moving forward because we are stuck looking back. I can look back at past mistakes and let it define me and paralyze me from moving forward. I have to remind myself that past mistakes don’t mean future ones. God is always writing a new story. 

I can just as easily waste time looking back even at easier times too.  Like wearing my sunglasses in the storm it can darken my view and I can’t see what is ahead. We can’t live in the past. Period. 

God always has a plan. Moving us forward is only part of the journey.  There will be things we put on and take off according to the terrain and weather we are walking through. There will be times of hardship but there will also be times of joy.  We have to dress and accessorize accordingly.

At the end of a year like 2020, our hearts were already tired and our emotions heavy. Now at just the beginning of 2021 some of us are feeling like we are headed right back down the lane of uncertainty. 

We have two choices. We can either sit down looking back or we can get up looking to the One leading our way forward.  

One step at a time. One road at a time.

We have got to keep moving forward, keep our eyes straight ahead…..and keep adjusting our glasses.  

See you in the field….and on the road,

Susan