looking back?

December 10, 2009 = Lucas is 1

It's amazing how quickly that happened. Still, today is Lucas' birthday. I still have a photo on my phone of the first day I ever met him. He was around two weeks old. That picture looks so much different from this:


Today, when I called my sister to tell her Happy Birthday for Lucas, she was quick to inform me that he was now facing forwards. (In my mind..."what is she talking about?") Apparently at year 1, children's car seats can be turned around from rear facing to forward facing. She started laughing and said, "yep, now he can see where we're going instead of only seeing where we've been."

We talked for a few more minutes, and then I had to go. However, the dork in me had been alerted. My mind wrapped around that sentence and I began to ponder it's relevance to life. Not only Lucas' life, but each of our lives as well.

How often do you find your mind consumed with your life that is behind you? Regardless of if it is 2 feet or 2 miles behind you. You are still mad at that person. You are trying to understand where that year went. You are reminiscing with high school or college friends about the "good ole' days." (I can remember so many stories that my grandmother would tell about her childhood and young adulthood. It will be sad to not hear any of those stories again this Christmas.)

Now, I will be the first person to argue the value and significance of remembering and contemplating the past. However, that is not what I am talking about here. I'm talking about being so caught up in the mundane and petty circumstances which trap your gaze and turn your attention to life gone by.

How often do you turn around and consciously look forward to where you are headed? I believe this is one great weakness in our culture. Our ability to envision the future, to dream, to imagine the fullness of what the Lord will take us into is gravely missing. You may have "plans for the future" and even be actively moving toward those goals. Still, I would wager that your gaze is more often than not set on the life you've lived and not on the life that awaits you.

As we celebrate Christmas with friends and family, I challenge you to turn 1! Let your seat be rotated so that you can see where you're going instead of where you've been. Christmas is a celebration of the story of Christ's arrival. Moreover, it is a celebration of the story that is yet to come as He continues to reign over His Kingdom.

May you remember your past. May you remind yourselves of the story of your life and the even larger story to which you belong. Yet, may you set your gaze forward. May you see and believe for the life that lies ahead. May you see the beauty of Him who is leading you onward.