Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:13-14 The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr composed a profoundly simple verse that came to be known as the Serenity Prayer: God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Niebuhrs words are far easier to recite than they are to live by. Why? Because most of us want life to unfold in accordance with our own wishes and timetables. But sometimes God has other plans. One of the things that fit nicely into the category of things we cannot change is the past. Yet even though we know that the past is unchangeable, many of us continue to invest energy worrying about the unfairness of yesterday (when we should, instead, be focusing on the opportunities of today and the promises of tomorrow). Author Hannah Whitall Smith observed, How changed our lives would be if we could only fly through the days on wings of surrender and trust! These words remind us that even when we cannot understand the past, we must trust God and accept His will. So, if youve endured a difficult past, accept it and learn from it, but dont spend too much time here in the precious present fretting over memories of the unchangeable past. Instead, trust Gods plan and look to the future. After all, the future is where everything thats going to happen to you from this moment on is going to take place.
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 09:33:41 +0000
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