Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Living In the Present

Evans Quote of the Day

"It has been a mistake living my life in the past. One cannot ride a horse backwards and still hold its reins."

Revisiting the past is sometimes a good thing, but only if are able to let go of it just as easily. How many times have we made mistakes and poor choices, and, instead of internalizing the lessons learned and moving on, we relive those mistakes over and over again? How many times have we remember good moments and tried to hold onto them for dear life instead of treasuring those memories and allowing ourselves to progress and make more of those moments? Most of us have done one or the other.

My motto has always been, "You get out of life what you put into it." No matter what happened in the past, each new day presents us a with clean slate, and it is up to us to decide what will be written on ours. We should remember that though God holds the eraser and makes use of that eraser every day, we need to draw something memorable and beautiful-something we want permanently etched into that canvas, and save Him the task of erasing. Because after a while the canvas can grow thin in some spots, and the old paint sometimes mixes in with the new, causing the colors that once shone so vivid and pure, to taint each picture thereafter.

It took a lot of years for me to train myself to leave the past in the past where it belongs. I have no desire to forget my past, and no desire to relive it. It is tucked away in my mental suitcase, only making an appearance when a refresher course on a past lesson is needed for life's unexpected pop quizzes.

6 comments:

Anna del C. Dye said...

That is a great quote. I hope you don't mind if I twitter it. Thanks,

Anna del C.
Author of "The Silent Warrior Trilogy"
http://www.annadelc.com

Doree L Anderson said...

Very poetically done, Jewel, thanks. I think I need to work on those thin spots.

DanielleThorne said...

Awesome!

Karey said...

Great post. Something that is difficult to remember sometimes, but oh, so important. Thanks for the reminder.

Joelene Coleman said...

The lyrics to a song have always stuck with me: "You can only change the person you become." If we're always looking back while walking forward, sooner or later, we're going to hit a wall...hard. Thanks for another inspiring blog, Jewel.

KRBailey, Author said...

Jewel - such a great blog. Too often we live in the past and don't face the future. I loved the idea that if we cling to the good and beautiful, God won't have to erase as much.

Loved your blog.