THE END OR THE BEGINNNING
THE END OR THE BEGINNING?
“Does Christmas (New Year), come at the end of the year or does it just provide its timing for it. Is it the moment we close the door on all that is past in the months that have proceeded it. Or is it the time that we open our eyes and say, come we are ready. We will embrace it all…” (taken from Call the Midwife)
There are so many things in my past that I wish I could go back and change. So many wrong words that slipped out of my mouth without thought as to what reaction those words would have on another. One of the times I have held onto the past was when, all my family were together for Christmas several years ago. I had been having trouble with my blood pressure-too low-and I messed that Christmas up with my words and actions for everyone. (I know it was not all about the blood pressure, but that did not help.) I was trying to bring my mother’s traditions and my traditions together and things just were not working out. Why did I try to make that time so perfect? Why was I trying to make it just like the past Christmas’s when my mother was alive? I was trying to hold onto the past, as tight as I could, with the fun my mother did for Christmas. Was I afraid I was going to lose that connection with my mother? I was holding tight to that past which caused chaos. How does a person come back from that? How does a person forgive themselves for that? Forgiveness is not what this blog is about, but this blog is about putting things behind us and moving on. It is true that we have to ask for forgiveness from God, from those involved and learn from the wrong that was done or said. Then, leave it behind. Give it to God and let go! If we hold onto the past and don’t leave it behind, it will smother all the good out of our future, because we are holding onto the past and dragging it into our future. We are looking back and not forward. When we do that, we will fall. We will get exhausted. Our past mistakes are meant to guide us into our future, not become the definition of that past year or of you.
When we sing “Auld Lang Syne” (meaning “for old times’ sake”) at the end of the year, are we putting that last year where it should be-in the past-old times. Or do we bring it into the new year, which should be full of promise and hope of better times. My daughter and family, when they lived here, would always come over to celebrate-eat and play games on New Year’s Eve. I remember telling my daughter, the New Year’s Eve after my husband passed away, that I felt like I was leaving him back there in that past year. How could I go forward? Who was I without him? What was I going to do and how was I going to live without him? Is there some way I could “pull” that past year forward? Hold onto the things and him who I was leaving behind. Have you ever felt that way? You want to hold onto someone or something and not move forward with your life. You don’t have to have it all figured out before you let go and move forward! Just take the next step! Just step forward, with God guiding you.
We can’t relive, change or hold onto the past, where those we love use to be. Can’t relive those wrong actions or words that were done or said and do them differently. It is hard to let them go. But we have to! Time marches on whether we are ready or not to follow into the unknown. Do we need to let ALL those memories go? I firmly say no! Instead, we need to bring them into our unknown future learning from those good and bad memories. We need to be strengthened with God given peace, that we made it-we learned from it-we can go forward with God in charge. We need to be reminded and rest assured that God helped us through those tough times and He will help us move forward. He is always there for us and “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) This verse promises that, for believers, God works every wrong-every suffering-every trial-every challenge and, yes, every good and bad, together to bring about a good outcome for His purposes and the best for us. This works into His larger plan for those who love Him and follow His law and calling, pushing and moving us into our promising future. Do you have that kind of trust and faith into God almighty?
Isaiah 43:18-19 reads, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.” Verse 25 reads, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Behold, I will do a new thing…” Isn’t that an amazing thought that God blots out those things that we have done or held onto. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says, “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead., I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” This was a man who had pulled Christians, men and women, out of their homes sending them to prison and was active in murdering Christians. (Acts 7:58, 8:3, 9:1-2) Paul, after the transformation he made from a murderer to a new life in God, he could have easily gotten stuck into thoughts of his terrible past. This would have made him stagnate and unable to perform his purpose for God in his future. Paul shows us that we can escape the negative things in our past and move forward into our future for and with trust in God.
When we hold onto the past, we are choking out the present future ahead. Maybe, it is not about holding on to the past. Maybe, instead, it is about focusing on what we are grateful for in that past year. What did we do right! It might have been a trial or hardship, but what happened that was good in the middle of it? What did I do right. What was a blessing in the middle of it.
C.S. Lewis said “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
As we go into this new year, let’s use the things of the past year that we are not proud of, to propel us into a better future. We can be better, remember the good things and learn from that past year and hold onto promises of a life in service to God, in your future.
Are you looking at this new year as the end of who you are, not able to see a future you? Are you holding onto the chains of the past that are pulling you back and not forward? Are you like, the other day when the wind was blowing so hard, it was trying to push me back to where I had been, no matter how hard I was trying to push forward. Or are you looking at this new year as the beginning of better things; putting your hope, trust and faith into the promises that God still has for you in your future.
Is this new year, the end or just the beginning for you?
Till next time!
Keela