Most of the most profound information provided in connection with this blog comes from your comments. Since the following was posted anonymously, I am unable to ask permission to use this in this manner, so here goes. Here is their comment from a week ago:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post
"pain":
One of the great questions of life is "what purpose the past?" This
seems especially true if the past brings unresolved pain.
From the time we set our feet on the floor in the morning, until we go to bed
at night, we usually walk forward all day, in going about our business.
One of the great mysteries of life is what compels us to walk backwards in our
minds. Love and prayers for those whose past brings pain. As a brother or
sister in Christ, it would feel so good to be able to take your arm and the arm
of other sojourners in the faith, and help people walk forward, so the past
won't hurt so much.
Wow. That spoke to me. "One of the great mysteries of life is what compels us to walk backwards into our minds." I love it. Walk forward, not backward. Some years ago I found an old college friend and apologized to him by email for something that happened in 1978. He did not even remember the event. He encouraged me to let the past be the past and get on with life. Funny how we keep learning things and then forgetting them and we need to be reminded over and over again of some basic simple healthy thoughts. Walk forward, not backward. Let the past be the past.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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3 comments:
Some things in the past are good and I believe the "gift" of memory is a wonderful thing. There have been moments I never want to forget. And, why so much emphasis on history, if the past is not important? Sometimes to get ahead and move forward, you have to learn from the past. And sometimes you gotta look back, to realize how far you've come.
The issue at hand is not about whether there's any good to be served from the past. Of course history is important. Of course the good memories of the building blocks and people who helped shape us are important.
What is not useful, and I think what God does not want us to be burdened down by is a past that was largely painful. The apostle Paul had much pain he could have become consumed with. But he said "forgetting those things which are behind, I press on (to higher things that move me toward Christ's calling)Phillipians 3:13
There are people in the world who love history, but also have painful pasts with personal experiences. God's desire is that we all hold each other up and encourange each other, to keep walking forward.
God bless those whose pasts bring pain.
Jeff, there is another aspect of the past and how it affects people's "todays," that I think is worth mentioninng.
There are people who had such wonderful, joyful pasts that when a tradgedy occurs or a dramatic life change occurs, they live with the fact that life will never be the same. This feeling can be overwhelming. For those with pasts that felt good, and they can never get those moments back again, it can be just as immobilizing as for those who carry painful pasts. This type of person can also find themselves continually walking backwards in their minds if they are not able to move on.
God bless all those whose pasts felt much better than the present. Let's shower them with love, so today feels good.
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