Closer than they appear

Here at Newpointe I've learned a lot. Not always the way that I've expected to, but I'm learning non the less. Well recently I heard my pastor say that your past is like yoru rear-view mirror.

I heard it as a comment in passing, and I wasn't really sure what he meant. But I was bored cuase I was at work so I gave it some thought. And you want to know something? Your past is like a rear view mirror.

I think that people very often don't deal with their past appropriately, and they fall into two different camps.

There are those who live in total bondage to their past. "Oh my gosh I had a lousy mom now I'm gonna be a bad mom and I can't help that I'm so mean to people!" Or "I will never be able to forgive him for what he did to me..." People who grew up in dysfunctional homes, who have been hurt, or don't know how to forgive themselves. These people live in their past. Sometimes I'm one of these people. But Neil Anderson says We are not truly held in bondage by our pasts, we are held in bondage by the lies Satan tells about us based on a false interpretation of the past.*

Then you have the other end of the spectrum. The people who say "I'm not going to be anything like my parents, and I'm not going to dwell on the past, I'm FINE. That's not going to follow me."
Sometimes I fall into this group too.

Well guess what? It IS gonna follow you. And you have to acknowledge your past and own it or it is gonna screw with your and your loved ones. The past is like a rear view mirror because for the most part you need to keep your eyes on the road, and not just dwell on where you've been or else you wont see what's coming. but if you don't check your mirrors you are going to be driving with huge blind spots and someday it's gonna make you get into an accident. And you might not be the only one in the car at the time.

I could talk for a long time about this but I won't. I assure you, however, that I haven't exhausted this analogy; you could give it a little bit of thought yourself. And feel free to disagree with me, becuase even if you do it might cause you to look in your mirrors.

*That quote is from Victory over the Darkness, but I paraphrased it a LOT since I couldn't find the quote