“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” ~ Will Rogers
There are times that I think about the things that I have done or left undone in the past. Sometimes, I cringe. Sometimes, I thank my lucky stars that I survived. Sometimes I wonder how I could have been so incredibly stupid. I think that we all go through that at various times in our lives. Our thoughts and feelings, by the way, are quite legitimate because we have been that stupid at times in our past, we have made the wrong decisions, we have left things undone that would have been better accomplished. All of those experiences comprise our personal histories.
However, none of those experiences or thoughts need control our days. That is the problem that some people bring upon themselves. They tell themselves that they have done the wrong thing, said the wrong thing, not done the right thing, et cetera, and that they are unforgivable because of that. How wrong can a person be?
I am sure that there have been many times in our lives — and, if we are honest would have to say will probably be many times in our lives — when God looks at us with incredulity and shakes His head, wondering how we could choose to do or say what we have done. But, when God looks at us with incredulity, He also looks at us in love because we are His creations and He wants nothing but the best for us.
Nothing but the best means that God desires that we learn from our mistakes. Never forget, no matter how small or how large a mistake we make might be, God’s love and forgiveness are there for us if we but go to Him. When we go to Him, we should make a firm decision not to repeat the mistake of our past and to learn from it.
Some of the most gentle, great saints of old were rough in their youth. Some of the perfect examples of God’s love were some of the most wretched of sinners in their past. If they would have allowed their sins to hold them, they would never have become the great saints that we admire.
We can choose to be saints or we can choose to be sinners. If we allow our mistakes and sins of the past to hold us back, we will never become the people God is calling us to be. If, on the other hand, we learn from the mistakes and sins of the past and if we repent and ask God for forgiveness and grace, we are well on the way to holiness.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God for the grace to learn from any mistakes made in the past so that you may look to today and the future with confidence and hope.