I was reading a Bible Story to the children this week, it was the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels told Lot and his wife not to look back at the city as they left. Whilst fire and Brimstone fell on the fallen cities Lot's wife could not resist, she turned her head in curiosity, pain, anguish........who knows what emotions she was feeling as she walked away from her home and four children who had been left behind. She was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.
How many of us are guilty of looking back, remembering the past with rose coloured glasses? I was reminded of this during the week as I reflected on my life. Something was said, it wasn't intended to hurt me but I couldn't stop thinking about the words spoken in casualness that were affecting me so deeply. The more I pondered on these words the more negative I felt about my situation. I wanted to give in, stop doing what I have been doing and run to the greener grass! I was disillusioned and felt that the present wasn't worth while...........I wanted to jump to the future!
As I tossed and turned in bed one night I was thinking about some words that another friend had written on her facebook. "When did you last encounter the awesome presence of God?" and It struck me just how negative I had become and what those thoughts had done to disrupt my week. I woke the next morning with a new perspective. Nothing had changed in the natural except the way that I was looking at the situation! Instead of seeing the negative I started focusing on the positive. Suddenly the passion and joy returned! It was amazing.
God doesn't want us to live in the past, he doesn't even want us to live in the future! He wants us to live one moment at a time, to enjoy every moment that he gives us and to live it out to the full. We become restless when we look back, or when we try to rush forward because we are disillusioned with the present.
Ecclesiastes talks about there being a time and a season for everything. Let us rest in the season that we are in!