For some of us, the holidays are bittersweet at best. We enjoy seeing our loved ones, but we miss those that are no longer around the table. Or we think back to better times before we lost the job, before the relationship was broken, when our health was better, etc. There are so many griefs in this world, and the temptation is to focus on the "...good old days." But is this what God would have us do? Here's what He says in Ecclesiastes 7:10:"Say not, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this."
Sounds like He is commanding us to not live in the past; to be thankful for the blessings He bestowed upon us back then, but not so much as to be stuck in those memories. I received an email from GriefShare yesterday which gave a very good visual illustration of this truth:
"It would be dangerous to drive down the street if your attention were focused solely on the rearview mirror, looking at what is behind. Grief (in all its forms) tends to make you look to the past, to what you lost. The pain of that loss, it's true, will be with you forever, but to move on, you must focus on the future as well as on the past."
My dear friends, whatever your loss may be, look to God and not to the past for your hope. After all, He is the one steering us toward heaven.
Candy--your blog reminds me of one of the last lines from my favorite book since high school--"The Edge of Sadness". After a novel that deals with a priest coming to grips with his past, he finally reconciles himself to his future, a future where he will work with the poor to find God. His last thought as he goes to say his evening prayers is
ReplyDelete"Great things are in store."
Great things are in store. God bless you, Steve and your family in the new year. May you be blessed in 2010.
Andy