Rear View Mirror

For many years I found myself living my life as if I were viewing it from a rear view mirror. There are countless individuals who likewise do the same thing. If we drove our car in the same way as this, we would eventually have a collision! But, life is not really very much different; and if we continue to persist in looking into the rear view mirror of our life, we will certainly crash.

In one short verse in Genesis , God teaches us the danger of looking back: Genesis 19:26 RKJV: “But his (Lot’s) wife looked back behind him, and became a pillar of salt.”

A similar thing occurs when we look back on the mistakes, bad choices, regrets and hurts of our life. These negatives viewed constantly and often held onto with a death grip will cause our thinking to become crystallized preventing us from moving forward to attain the goodness each day holds for each of us. And, yes each day is full of goodness, but if we are paralyzed in our thinking by backward vision, we will never see it to embrace it.

Let me repeat, these four things should never be viewed in your life’s rear view mirror because often a fleeting glance becomes a fixed stare.

• Mistakes
• Bad Choices
• Regrets
• Hurts (Emotional, Physical, Spiritual)

Mistakes

We all make mistakes. Life is simply full of errors and times when we goof-up. The best way to deal with a mistake is to let it teach you an important lesson.

When I was a young child I made the terrible mistake of grabbing our cat, Tom, by the tail. I really meant no harm; I just wanted to pet him. Tom Cat didn’t understand this was my intent, besides I don’t believe he really was the petting kind of cat.

What did I learn from this mistake?

• Tom Cat did not like his tail pulled and would run away every time he saw me or worse hiss at me!
• Tom Cat had nasty claws, those nine attempts out of ten left my face a mess and me in an outburst of tears.
• Tom Cat liked me about as much as I liked him (I detested that cat!)
• I learned to leave Tom Cat alone, if he got in my way, I booted him over the picket fence with the broom.
• This was a foolish mistake.
• “God, you know how foolish I’ve been.” Psalm 69:5a – NIrV

Bad Choices

In my senior year of high school I made a dreadful choice of inviting a girlfriend (Sheila) to grad night held at Disneyland Amusement Park. (There was nothing amusing about this one, folks!) The reason I didn’t have the ecstasy of my boyfriend’s presence is that he was escorting another girlfriend of mine (Cathy) to grad night!