Turn the Page

Our lives are like books—some chapters are beautiful and awesome while others we wish to skip or erase. Every day we add a line, a sentence, a paragraph or a page to our journey. Until the last sentence has been written, we will always have an opportunity to change our story. When we look back at some pages, we run into emotions, actions and different circumstances. We had ups and downs, we cried, we won, we lost, we failed, we achieved, and grew up in every single way.

Have you stopped to think about what your book will say about you? Who were you as a person? What were your values, what did you achieve, what gave meaning and sense to your life? Will your life’s book be powerful and compelling, or will it be just a bunch of pages that had no impact to you or those around you?

Here we are today, about to start a new chapter as our life story continues to unfold. As you consider what to start writing on your new blank page of life, here are two things I encourage you to remember: The past is the past, but you have power over the present. Many people are stuck in the “What if” and just lose time and energy. What’s done is done, my friend. You cannot change it. You can assess the past to build for the future, but spending time going backwards is not productive. Paul expressed it, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” Philippians 3:13.

Today will never happen again. Your future success, in all aspects of life, is prepared for in the present moment—today. Don’t let five years or even one more year go by while you keep looking back with regret. Make things happen now. You can’t control the past, but you can change the present for a blessed future. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34.

As you continue to write your life story, consider all that has happened up to this point in your character development. Now allow God to build on that and write something new. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19.

God wants to write something new in your life. He wants to demonstrate that, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ.” 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

By Vanston Archbold, Diversity Coordinator