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Here’s a thought for today: “You cannot change your
ancestors but you can do something about your descendants.” In other
words, while you can’t change the past you can do something about the
future.
Seems like a simple concept, and yet many people spend a
lot more time and effort lamenting about the past than they do preparing
for the future. Bitterness, complaining and hostility will never change
what has already been done.
When someone spends their life trying to redo what cannot
be redone they live in frustration and guilt. Negative thinking
destroys present relationships and robs inward joy. The individual
suffers twice – once from the original injustice and again from the
poison of reliving it over and over again.
Sadly, some persons have suffered almost unimaginable
pain or injustices. The anguish of losing a family member, the sorrow
caused by divorce or the indignity of sexual or physical abuse gnaws
into their hearts. God himself weeps with them. It is as if they have
run into a brick wall. Life seems to have reached an immovable
barrier. Joy seems to be on the other side of the wall, but the wall
will not disappear.
If someone grabs you by the neck and runs your head into
a brick wall, it will hurt. Some persons may try to hide the pain in
order to act tough, but brick walls always win out in the end.
If someone is running your head into a brick wall, it is
a wise thing to break away, let the person know he or she cannot
continue, and seek legal help if necessary. But it is a foolish thing
to break away and then run your own head into the brick wall again.
And yet that is just what many people do. They have
suffered unimaginable pain but instead of moving away from the pain they
relive it day after day. They allow the scars of the past to determine
the quality of life in the present.
The story goes that a man came into work with two badly
burnt ears. “What happened to you?” his colleagues asked.
“I was watching a television program, totally engrossed
in what was going on, when the phone rang. Absentmindedly I reached for
the phone, but my wife had been doing some ironing. I grabbed the iron
instead, burning my ear. Then I picked up the phone, but could you
believe it was some fellow calling who had the wrong number?”
“And how did you burn the other ear?” they wanted to
know.
“Could you believe that the fellow had the nerve to call
back?” he answered.
It is one thing to be burnt once; it is another thing to
be burnt over and over again. We cannot control the past, but we can do
things that effect the present and the future. It is very sad that some
people have been scarred by divorce, alcoholism, abuse or neglect. It
is even sadder when those same persons pass the pain on to their
children.
Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.” (John 8:32) The truth he was referring to is the
acceptance of Christ and his teachings into our lives. The path to
healing lies not in reliving the past but in trusting in God for the
future.
Paul Jetter, Upper Valley Community Church |
