Now part 2
Worrying about the future can rob you of living in the present. You need a balance. In my opinion its a little bit foolish to live as if today was your last day. (And I really do understand the sentiment about not putting things off until tomorrow, because there might not BE a tomorrow. But at the same time, if you squander everything you have today... you won't be in a very good position when tomorrow DOES come.) So its important to live in the now. To be where you are, but also to keep an eye on where you want to go. And in the same manner... its important to LEARN from the past without letting it DEFINE you. Because living in the past can be just as devestating as living in the future. Now don't get me wrong, it's almost impossible to NOT be shaped by your past. If you touch the stove, and its hot, you probably won't do that again. That experience helped to make you who you are. But there's a BIG difference in not TOUCHING the hot stove again... and refusing to USE the stove at all. There's a big difference in making a mistake and LEARNING from it... and letting a mistake stop you from ever trying again. The only true failure is failing to try, right? "I can't cook. I burned my hand on the stove once." That's letting the past define you. And, in a way, that's letting the past DESTROY you. And this is really taken to another level when we talk about what I always talk about: Love. I once heard a preacher say, "If you've never been offended by someone at church, you're probably new here. Give it time." And his point was, if you're looking for the perfect church where everybody gets along all the time... don't hold your breath. People are people no matter where you go. And MY point is: Just because you've been hurt... you shouldn't stop putting yourselves out there. There's a song lyric that says, "I'm giving up on love, cause love's given up on me." And I think that's how a lot of people feel. We get hurt in the realm of love--even though what we generally think of as love isn't even close to REAL agape God love--and we shut it down. Because we don't want to get hurt again. And we think that's what Proverbs 4:23 is all about: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Other translations say, "Guard your heart." And we seem to think that in order to guard, or keep, our hearts we need to shut them down. You know, so we don't get hurt again. Build a big tall all and keep people out. But the PURPOSE of our heart is to receive and release the love of God. And God works through people. In order to live--RIGHT NOW--you have to love. And in order to love you have to let yourself BE loved. Because to live is to love and to love is live. They aren't just connected; they are the same thing. And you can't give what you don't have. You can only give what you do have. So you have to let love in. You guard, or keep, your heart by keeping it OPEN. By being open to love. By letting God love you. By letting PEOPLE love you. And then releasing that love once you receive it. And, yeah, it can be scary to keep reaching out after your hand has been slapped away. But I'd much rather be naive than cynical. I'd much rather get hurt than not feel anything at all. So when we're talking about living (by loving) right now... we can't let the past kill us. We can't let what already happened hold us back from what's going to happen. We can't get stuck. We have to keep moving upward and God-ward! We have to learn from the past without letting it define us, or destroy us!