because you haven't messed up tomorrow...
The thing I love about the future is that it's full of potential, untainted and free of mistake. You have no idea what's going to happen, so you can dream. You can come up with ideas and plans and tasks to accomplish because there is no guarantee of whether or not you'll achieve them. No one plans on failing. At least, that's not the natural response. It's the potential that compels us forward. It's the thought of what may happen that keeps us going. But sometimes the things that have happened, the yesterdays, the yester-years, and the decades that lie behind us threaten to keep us from moving forward.
They say things are 20/20 in hindsight, and boy is that the truth. There's nothing like looking back and seeing your life through the lens of reality. Because usually what really took place is not what you planned. Before you got to that point, that seemingly unforgettable place in life, you imagined it would be different. When your past was your future, it didn't look the same. You thought one thing and yet something else unraveled. And there's nothing like seeing your choices for what they really are that keeps you from feeling like you have the opportunity, like you really deserve the chance, to dream big things about a future in which your past has no place.
I remember thinking that the Lord could only use perfect people. Of course, that's because I really hadn't been told otherwise. Everyone I saw in a position of leadership, all my Sunday school teachers, those who had the title and authority, seemed to be perfect. I know they weren't, but I certainly couldn't have told you how they weren't. I assumed that all of those used by God had a spotless record. After all, God is perfect and I figured His representatives needed to be. And so I tried really hard to be that girl. The one who didn't mess up, and who didn't make bad choices. I wanted to be pleasing to God, but I also wanted to be used by God. I figured if I could make it through life and somehow do everything right, God would be able to do great things through me. I'd be more useable that way. And I can't even begin to tell you how hard of a fall it was the day I realized my perfect record was tarnished and there was nothing I could do to change it.
You've probably been there, too. You just knew you'd never end up in the spot you found yourself because it wasn't what you had planned. But life and sin and selfishness got in the way and all of the sudden your past became something you never dreamed of when it was your future. Tainted and ruined and worthless. Oh, but it is never worthless, and while your past may be riddled with mistakes, bad choices, and things you can't change, that doesn't mean your future looks the same.
You have a spotless future. A clean record. You've not messed it up. You've not ruined it. You've not damaged it or tainted it, and it's not worthless. Your future is a blank canvas. A story in the making. Tomorrow is mistake free. The next day, too. And your job isn't to figure it out, and your job isn't to erase your mistakes. You job is to hand over the pen. To allow God, the Author and Perfector, the ability to work with your future. To lead you forward into a new adventure. To begin a new chapter, one filled with hope and redemption. To write a different story than you've been living and a different story than you've been planning. Because God knows how to make our lives worthwhile, how to clean up the messes of the past, and how to use them for the good of your future. It's not about having a perfect record, it's about loving a perfect God. About trusting Him with your past and with your future. Because nothing goes wasted when placed in His hands. Our biggest mistakes can become our biggest blessings. Not because we deserve it but because God is faithful. Faithful to work all things out for the good of those who love Him, of those He loves, and you, dear child, are His beloved.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28
They say things are 20/20 in hindsight, and boy is that the truth. There's nothing like looking back and seeing your life through the lens of reality. Because usually what really took place is not what you planned. Before you got to that point, that seemingly unforgettable place in life, you imagined it would be different. When your past was your future, it didn't look the same. You thought one thing and yet something else unraveled. And there's nothing like seeing your choices for what they really are that keeps you from feeling like you have the opportunity, like you really deserve the chance, to dream big things about a future in which your past has no place.
I remember thinking that the Lord could only use perfect people. Of course, that's because I really hadn't been told otherwise. Everyone I saw in a position of leadership, all my Sunday school teachers, those who had the title and authority, seemed to be perfect. I know they weren't, but I certainly couldn't have told you how they weren't. I assumed that all of those used by God had a spotless record. After all, God is perfect and I figured His representatives needed to be. And so I tried really hard to be that girl. The one who didn't mess up, and who didn't make bad choices. I wanted to be pleasing to God, but I also wanted to be used by God. I figured if I could make it through life and somehow do everything right, God would be able to do great things through me. I'd be more useable that way. And I can't even begin to tell you how hard of a fall it was the day I realized my perfect record was tarnished and there was nothing I could do to change it.
You've probably been there, too. You just knew you'd never end up in the spot you found yourself because it wasn't what you had planned. But life and sin and selfishness got in the way and all of the sudden your past became something you never dreamed of when it was your future. Tainted and ruined and worthless. Oh, but it is never worthless, and while your past may be riddled with mistakes, bad choices, and things you can't change, that doesn't mean your future looks the same.
You have a spotless future. A clean record. You've not messed it up. You've not ruined it. You've not damaged it or tainted it, and it's not worthless. Your future is a blank canvas. A story in the making. Tomorrow is mistake free. The next day, too. And your job isn't to figure it out, and your job isn't to erase your mistakes. You job is to hand over the pen. To allow God, the Author and Perfector, the ability to work with your future. To lead you forward into a new adventure. To begin a new chapter, one filled with hope and redemption. To write a different story than you've been living and a different story than you've been planning. Because God knows how to make our lives worthwhile, how to clean up the messes of the past, and how to use them for the good of your future. It's not about having a perfect record, it's about loving a perfect God. About trusting Him with your past and with your future. Because nothing goes wasted when placed in His hands. Our biggest mistakes can become our biggest blessings. Not because we deserve it but because God is faithful. Faithful to work all things out for the good of those who love Him, of those He loves, and you, dear child, are His beloved.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28
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