Well something's been on my mind recently, it's one of the many saying that I have. And, if you know me, you've probably heard plenty of them by now. Where I pick these up I don't usually remember. Why I say them is because they mean something special or unique to me and every time I say them they remind me of something that I often shouldn't forget.
The one I feel like I should share today is, "This is the first day of the rest of my life."
Now many of you have possibly heard that before, it's the lyrics of a song, it's the title of a book, it's the name of a movie, and the list goes on. It's not a saying unique to me. So why is this something I say and why is it something I've been thinking about recently, well, let me tell you.
Coming into this school year I've been feeling really weighed down. The past couple years I have taken a back seat and been content to watch life go on around me, not reaching out to build up those around me. I didn't seek out ways to help lead and serve, merely enjoying living comfortably. And now that plagues me, how could I have been so selfish? And because of that I don't feel like I'm where I should have been.
So I have my failures looming over me and the realization that this is what I've been for the past couple years and it's become a habit, and it will be so easy to fall back into who I've been. Looking in the past has this strange of sapping your energy to live for the future. So I've been trying to look forward to what God has for me this year, but I feel the presence of what I was creeping up behind me and I find myself looking every so often over my shoulder. It's a problem I have, letting my past sneak up on me, even when it's not trying to and it's simply me worrying.
But this is where this particular saying brings my mind back on track. First off it says nothing about the past. It helps me look to the work I have to do now, not what or how I've failed in the past. Second it gives a sense of hope, I have a life ahead of me that God has a plan for and good works He's prepared for me to do!
Wow, even righting this I have this thrill that God's got something just around the corner for me to do! It's my way of remembering that God's right there with me and because of that my past is past and my future has yet to become the past, so it's time I start living in the present.
So that's the first one. You'll see more of my sayings as God lays them on my heart. I hope you were encouraged at this and the fact that what's in the past can only affect your future if you let it, because today is the first day of the rest of your life, so live it now how you want it to be. Because tomorrow never comes, it stays tomorrow and all you have is the here and now. And the past never becomes your future, it can just become what you see in the future when you stop looking at what God has for you to do and instead look at how you've failed in the past.
I challenge you to live like today is the first day of the rest of your life!
Starting Over, Starting Today, and Starting With Christ,
Joshua
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