Has Been’s or Happenings?

I was once given a book by my children called the Father’s Legacy which was a unique book that was intended to be authored by me.

It contained questions about my boyhood with a parallel page where I had to write the answers.

As the book went on it took me through different seasons of my life from pre-school, to elementary, to High School, my first job, college, dating, marriage, the birth of my children etc. A really good trip down memory lane.

The questions didn’t allow for short shrift answers, so I had to work hard to use all my powers of recall to write an honest account for my children to understand what I was going through at certain seasons in my life.

Some of those memories were good and some not so good but one thing was consistent; the memories of years gone by and events long gone evoked strong emotions, both positive and negative.

Looking back can be a really good thing to help me remember to be thankful for victories, progress and success in life, but it can also serve to trap me like quicksand, if I am not careful what I believe about those ‘good old days’.

Especially in times of challenge which come along because of crisis or growth, those histories can evoke a belief that it was better back there and I should do all I can either to stop what I am doing and settle down, or worse, try to recapture those days.

The soaring positive emotions that I have enjoyed in the past at good times, can be relived and even be greater today, but certainly not by living in the memory of them. That emotion is just a phantom, an imposter who wants to take up the faith and hope that I need for today and tomorrow.

Today and tomorrow, should I pass through today, need me invested in what is happening, not in what has been.

What is happening is that God is working and weaving together something really good for me.

That something will give me the gift of contentment, peace and exhilaration that comes from walking with The God of The Living, not the dead.

The past in all of the good things it may contain, is dead. Right now, today, is happening and God is in it. He isn’t living in my past. Although He is at the top of the mountain, at the bottom of the ocean and on the wings of the dawn, etc. One place he does not reside is in the past.

But he presents Himself to us here, right now. And there is something good happening, for us all if we will live with him right here, and let it happen.

I like walking with God today.