Greetings Dear Reader,
There are turning points in my past that I would change if I
could. I imagine how things would be
were I to have gone right instead of left.
I work out beautiful endings that would be if I had only made a better
choice. I increasingly realize what a
waste of creativity that is.
If we keep with the metaphor of travel, I recall a vignette
from a dear friend of mine. When he was
young his family had a regular vacation spot at the beach. It was a six-hour drive from his home to the
beach where they would take long summer breaks.
It was a great time for his entire family.
One year, as the family headed toward vacation, his mother
became convinced that she had left the iron on, laying on the ironing
board. She told his father who reassured
her that it was not on and that all would be well. It is important to note that the family was
already two hours down the road toward their destination.
My friend watched his parents argue. His dad offered to call the person caring for
the family cat and have the iron thrown into the yard. This was not good enough. Fully frustrated, the dad turned the family
van around and headed the two hours back to home. The iron
was not on but it did get a final resting place in the back yard. My friend related that he developed a
life-long aversion to irons that day.
We make mental and physical choices every day that are the
next step in life. We choose them for
good or ill. The difficulty is that we
allow the wrong ones to hold us prisoner for far too long. The past has power and it is supposed to have
it. The difficulty is that we give it the
wrong power and too long a lease in our minds.
The purpose of the past is to serve as a reminder of blessings,
lessons, and to be a prologue to what is ahead.
Regrets should be momentary and fleeting; dismissed by the truth of
forgiveness and focus on the future. The
other improper power we give the past is that we carry false guilt that is
never ours to carry.
The past is there to teach us but is not supposed to harm
us. No matter who else tries to use it
to do so, Christ wishes us to journey by grace in freedom from the past. As we travel, we are not supposed to try and
retrace paths we can never find again.
We are instead supposed to learn from them so that we make the right
choices on the path ahead.
As we travel together, Dear Reader, let us agree that we will
not use the past to harm ourselves or each other. We will not measure people by their history
but by where they are in the story of Christ.
We can journey forward without guilt and shame. We can be free to love others and be lovingly
unoffendable by those who would use the past to harm us. We can forgive more deeply and fully. Our burden will be lighter and there will be
more joy to share. I am in and I hope
you are as well.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis Thorn:
#aramisthorn
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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