In Front of You!

“If you want to fall, keep looking back.”

Chris Cole

As part of our continued growth and moving forward, I believe it is very important to look back on our past with a purpose. Living in the past shouldn’t become a consuming life activity. We certainly don’t want to commit the sins of our past and, the sins of our past should not become an indictment of our future.

Too often, we seem to get so caught up in our past that our past becomes our life. We sometimes spend so much time dwelling in the past, one might think we have time-travel portals that would allow us to travel back and forth, like catching a flight to Vegas. That restriction aside, I have watched enough Sci-fi films to know that, even if we could travel back in time and change the past, we would mess up more than we could ever fix given our own limited, human capacity. News flash... try as you might, the past ain’t changing (I am Texan, I can say “ain’t” if I want to)! So, stop living in the past!

I am not smart enough to explain why we do this to ourselves. I just know that we do it. I think many times it’s because we get caught up in what others think. I do it and it’s not fair! Listen, I am a very biblical guy. My Bible tells me that God sent His Son to die for my sins. Why? So that I could move the heck on, that’s why! I realize that’s probably not the way it’s taught in theology school, but for this, we are going to go with it.

I have to be honest and tell you that as I type this, I kind of feel hypocritical. You see, I have come to realize that sometimes, it’s easier to tell someone else what they should or should not do than it is to actually apply the same advice in your own life. So, for full transparency, I am guilty!

Collectively Me didn’t come about because of all the things that were right and perfect in my life. In fact, Collectively Me is a direct result of those things that I had to overcome in the process. It is those things that are now rooted in my DNA, and those things allow me to be who I am today. My platform, my ability to influence others, and ultimately, my ability to assist others in changing lives, comes from my desire to be so much more than I was!

I chose long ago to not consume myself with trying to “right my wrongs”. I am instead just trying to be the best version of me that I can be going forward. An example is, I am divorced. That part of my life is my greatest disappointment. Breaking that cycle of divorce was so important to me. I sucked at being a husband the first 20 years. By the time that I decided to try and do better, the damage had already been done.

As much as I want to change that part of my past, I can’t! But what I can do is to learn from that part of my life and move forward. My opportunity to be a great husband is in front of me, not behind me. Trust me when I say that there is other baggage that I could unload but, I just don’t have the time nor do I want reveal those skeletons, at least not now.

I also recognize that we have all endured pain throughout our lives, hardships that can be extremely difficult to move past. I will not argue that moving past painful inflictions of the past is more difficult than trying to right our wrongs of the past. I certainly get it. I suffer the same. At the age of eight I was victimized and robbed of a piece of my soul. I would like to leave it there for now because that in and of itself is a much more complex concern.

What is relevant for today is that, it is part of my past. A very painful portion of my past, something I wish had never happened simply because, it was not supposed to happen. Even still, I would not go back into the past to change that situation. You might ask, why I wouldn’t want to prevent the pain from occurring.

The answer is simple. Because I have taken my life’s pain, mistakes, and hardship on as part of the fiber of my DNA. Yes, I was victimized at an early age. While the situation could have resulted in me being a victim, my faith in God, His steadfast hand, and my efforts for continuous self-improvement resulted in me growing from what could have been my downfall! God built me to be stronger than that. God gifted me with power to move on to do bigger things in spite of any situation. I had to let things go! I refused to be defined by anything other than who God made me to be. I am the victor! I am victorious!

The point I want to make is, regardless of what your sin, your baggage, or your suffering of the past may be, stop beating yourself up over it. Stop being consumed with proving ANYTHING to ANYONE! To hell with them. They have their own closets to deal with and their need for restoration.

Every day, God gifts us with the opportunity to forge a better present and ability to set the tone for a wonderful future. Every day, we have the authority to forgive ourselves, to free ourselves, and to be better than we were in the past.

Here’s to Today!