Do ever laugh at yourself?  I sure do!  For example: I always rinse my cup with hot water before adding the coffee so the cold cup will not steal the heat and make the coffee lukewarm before its time.  So, this morning, I am standing there waiting and waiting for the water in the faucet to heat up.  It is taking forever!!  (Here comes the funny part…)  Due to the fact that I was not paying attention to what I was doing, the faucet was in the cold-water position!  I could’ve stood there all day and not warmed up my cup!  Talk about futile!

     Which leads me to the title of this writing…  It is just as crazy to try to warm a cup with cold water as it is to live in the past.  Once it’s over, it’s over and we need to move on. 

     “Now listen, daughter, pay attention, and forget about your past.  Put behind you every attachment to the familiar…” ~ Psalm 45:10 tPt 

     Speaking of “the familiar”, we are all familiar with advice on leaving the past behind and not becoming trapped again in the things that had us bound; and I whole-heartedly agree.  But now, at this stage of my life, I can also see another application.  We must not allow ourselves to become trapped in the good things of the past either.  Silken cords of former achievements can bind just as much as the ball and chain of failures. 

     Life is not about hanging on to the past.  It is about moving forward in the present. 

     No matter what happened in the past, whether wonderful or woeful, God wants us to live in the now. 

Respect the past; cherish the lessons learned and the wonderful friends made along the way.  Just don’t get stuck there.