Trying Not to Look Back

I believe it was the old pitcher Satchel Page who said, "Don't look back something might be gaining on you."

We spend a lot of time looking back. We can become stuck in the past. People fixate on past problems, failures and relationships. If we spend all of our time looking back how we can see to go forward. I learned this lesson the hard way when I first learned to drive. I was driving through my neighborhood when one my friends told me a police office had pulled in behind me. I was not speeding but became so focused on what was going on behind me I did not pay attention to the curve in front of me. I missed the curve and took out a whole front yard worth of hedges. You know the ironic thing is there never had been a police officer behind me.

How often do we worry about things behind us that are not even real. Like Satchel Page mused, something might be gaining on us or in reality nothing may be gaining on us. We need to live in the moment. How many people are not enjoying today because they are worried about the past? How many people are missing out on the good life now because they are pining away their lives longing for the good old days.

You have to keep pressing forward in life for something. It might be to cultivate a closer walk with God. It might be to get ahead or get out of debt. Maybe you are progressing toward some physical goal like losing weight, running a 5K or doing a bike race. Find something in your life that honors God and helps you keep pressing forward to something ahead. Read a book. Take a trip. Finish your degree. Fix up the house. The possibilities are numerous.

We have to keep pressing forward and resist the urge to stop progress so we can look back. Looking back at the past and remembering loved ones who have died can be healthy and heart warming. To stop living and remained focused exclusively on the past with them is not healthy. Many people are not able to cope with the loss and remain stuck in the past. They live in depression and brokenhearted. Life is never the same after death but a person can still press forward to come goal.

Likewise, it is not healthy to dwell on past mistakes. We can get stuck in the mud if we can't learn to accept God's forgiveness or to learn to forgive ourselves. Man this came hitting home in a big way last night on the baseball team I coach.

Before every game I lead the team in a devotion and prayer. My devotion last night came from [Phil 3:13-14] "Brethren, I do not regard myself has having a laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

During the game one of our guys had two ground balls go between his legs in the same inning. He was heartbroken when he came back to the dug out. It was his turn to sit in the next inning and when I went into the dug out after the other guys took the field I noticed this little boy was crying and hanging his head. I sat down and sought to comfort him. It was not working. He felt devastated.

Then I remembered our devotion. Forget what lies behind but press forward to what lies ahead. I spoke this into his shattered heart. I then told him I had a magic pill guaranteed to make him happy. I reached into my pocket and took out a piece of bubble gum and handed it to him. He looked up and forced a little smile. Progress. Forget the past and press forward to what lies ahead. I reminded him there was still a lot of baseball to be played.

When he got up to bat the next time he had a great hit scoring some of our runners. He beamed standing on first base. Same kid. Same game. Same errors. Totally different attitude. When the inning ended he was all smiles. What that little boy learned in two innings of a baseball game some people never learn in a life time.

We cannot spend our time looking back at past mistakes or regrets. Our focus has to be on the call of God on our lives in front of us. There are strides still to be made. So let me remind you to forget what lies behind and press forward to what lies ahead.