Letting Go of The Past
It’s September! For me, it means I can put the chill and dreariness of winter behind me and look towards the warmth, light, color, and life which is on the horizon.
September also means AFL finals!! Now for some of you reading this, you may have no connection, or if your team was unable to make the finals, ‘little’ interest. The team I follow HAS managed to make it into the finals, however for some followers of this team (maybe me too), we need to let go of the past performances in the final series which have been less than successful and look for a ‘new’ thing (a premiership?).
I love these words:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19
NIV
While I am quite happy to forget the chills and darkness of winter and look to what’s ahead, I am not so great at letting go of the past events in my own life.
Dwelling on the past, can become quite an habitual practice for me, from focusing on mistakes, failures or ‘wrong’ things I have said and done (the reel plays over and over in my head!), to the hurts which I have experienced, to unfair, unjust and tragic events which have happened to me, my friends, colleagues or family. I think you get the picture.
These events are real and painful and should not be ignored, all of them evoking a range of emotions and feelings which need to be acknowledged. I am slowly but intentionally learning to cultivate awareness and compassion to develop the freedom to respond to these situations in loving, creative and wise ways. Not always easy I can assure you, but through regular contemplative practices and reflection and prioritising regular time and space for God to speak to my heart, I’m growing new ways of seeing and being.
I’ve learnt that when I dwell on the past it prevents me from seeing the new things which are emerging, the seeds, shoots and blossoms of colour, life and light within me, within others and within my community and beyond.
I find strength in the words of the passage, knowing that this is not all up to me. “See I am doing a new thing”. It’s God who’s inviting us to let go of the past and it is God who is “doing a new thing” and making “a way in the wilderness and streams in the wastelands” within our lives and our world. Too often I am stuck looking in the rear vision mirror rather than seeing the vista in front of me.
I am not sure what this will mean for my football team for September, but I do know that God keeps God’s promises to create new things in me and in others, even those who have hurt and disappointed me, within our learning communities, and our world, we just need to let go of dwelling on the past and to look ahead to the new things emerging!
