Focusing on the Rear View Mirror

 

       Where is your focus, right now?  On the past or on the present?  I and my family received this challenge from Dad as we were driving down the road one day.  Have you ever noticed how the rear view  mirrors are smaller than the windshield?  What would happen if you took your focus off the road and placed it on what was behind you?  You would crash.  You must continue looking ahead to know where you are headed, focused on the present, the here and now, your future destination.  The rear view mirrors are important.  They remind us of what is behind us, the lessons we've learned, the mistakes we have done, and God's provision and protection.  It's ok to glance back, to reflect on the past, but we must not dwell on it.  We must move on.  We must start a new life and make the best of the present.   My family is adjusting to living in a new home.  We moved from the hilltop to the valley physically and spiritually.  After my grandpa died, we left our small house behind where my parents started their married life together and where all of us children had grown up.  To move into our grandparents big house adopting Grandma into our family, was a major change.  It's true that we had looked forward to living in this house with roomy bedrooms and lots of space, but now, nothing is the same as it was before.  My family and I keep looking back.  I want to move back.  When I start focusing on the rear view mirrors of my life, I emotionally crash.  Without Jesus Christ, I would be unable to go on and face the challenges of everyday.  Without him I would still be living in the past. Stepping out in faith, I'm driving onward.  Although I don't want to, I'm choosing to place my focus on the road ahead through the windshield.

     I have started to take note of the little bright spots, the familiar sounds, the new scenery of this new place. 

 

 

The horse pasture to greet me when I pull in the yard.

 

 

 

 The bright pink of the peony bushes just coming into bloom.

 

 

Sunlight at dusk highlighting a strawberry blossom and berry just waiting to ripen.

 

 

 

A dainty red rose against green thorny foliage. 

 

 

 

Timid but curious baby kittens with whom my brothers and sister like to play.

 

 

 

 __________________________________________________________________

 

The sound of cows mooing in our neighbor's pasture as I fall asleep.

The call of a meadowlark as it flits along the fence line as I walk through the pasture to catch a horse.

 

My view up from the valley to the hills where the wind creates ripples in the long grass.

 

The misty mornings where quiet fog hangs heavy over the creak.

 

The horse's standing head to tail swishing flies in the sun.

 

An encouraging note from a friend.

 

Words of hope from the scriptures.

 

My final destination: Heaven.