You don’t have to make your past the place you live, you have to make your past a place where you have examples of what to do and what not to do, what to leave behind and what to repeat.

Because when you keep living in the past, your life stops in the present and your future is also compromised.

The person who keeps crying over spilled milk, harbouring regrets, and reliving an episode of disappointment, betrayal, loss or frustration, which feeds bad feelings in the present, is stealing their present and their future with these memories. The past is very useful, but that’s not it.

The past when used as a reference, both positive and negative, instructs our present and our future. It helps us to adjust the course and adjust our route to determine whether we will reach the destination we want or not.

The Word of God says:

“Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, and bring in little…” Haggai 1:5,6

To consider is an attitude of the mind. It’s an assessment, you have to observe it carefully and attentively. Considering your ways means not simply saying “it’s all water under the bridge now”. It has value in that, in the sense that you understand that you cannot change your past, but you can use the past to change the present and the future.

High-performance athletes do this all the time, business men and women are also always using the past as a reference for what to do differently and better from now on.

We are now, for example, coming to the end of another year. This moment is ideal for you to reflect:

1. What did I do that worked well?
2. What did I do that was good for me?
3. What did I do that was good for my family?
4. What did I do that was good for my job?
5. What did I do that was good for my health?
6. What did I do that was good for my spiritual life?
7. What did I do that ended badly?
8. What should I abandon in my life?
9. What did people add to my life this year?
10. What friendships should I strengthen?
11. Which people were negative?
12. Should I end this year with grudges against someone?
13. What should I change about my habits?

Just as companies make stock-takes at the end of the year, you have to make a stock-take of your life. Use your past as a reference, but don’t move there. Look forward, but with the guidance of what your past has taught you.

The Word of God teaches you how to do this, so pay attention to the Word. Take advantage of these last days of 2022 to do this self-assessment to make your decisions going forward.