Looking Both Ways

Looking back is easier for most of us than looking ahead.  Ahead is unknown and full of uncertainty while what is behind us is known and definite.  There is nothing we can do about what is in our past, but there is much we can do about what is ahead of us.  Even if the past is still working on what is before us, we have a say in whether or not it shapes our living in a positive or negative way.  What is always easier to do is to turn into some whining creature, one full of regret about what cannot be changed, and one who allows the past to be immobilizing.       

Jesus always talked about a Kingdom which was life changing and which had its origin in the past and its impetus in the unfolding will of God.  The Kingdom as He talked about it was not here and now, but also out there and yet to be.  To trust in Christ and to live in this Kingdom does not mean sticking our head in the sand and ignoring what is behind us, but acknowledging its presence knowing that it does not have the power to overcome what God is working out for us in what is ahead.    

None of us could have imagined the year which is behind us and neither can we foresee what lies ahead in the road that stretches out ahead of us.  As we look both ways we can see the holy presence Who has chosen to be with us in all our days.  As surely as He made Himself known in the fire and cloud that brought the Hebrews out of slavery, through the wilderness and into the promised land, He is with us.  He is not only working to make good of the bad stuff which has touched us, but He is also working to bring us into a greater awareness of the Kingdom of God in which He desires for each of us to live.