You cannot change your past, but you can focus on your future and chart a bright one that someone else can look back at and find hope.
Speaking to students during the recent St Michael School Founders Day service at the St Michael’s Cathedral, Reverend Suzette Husbands urged her audience to forget those things which were behind them and seek to make the most of their future.
She told them: “If we could go back and change our past, that would be great, but we cannot. It is what it is. What we have to be conscious of, is that a good present automatically creates a good past.”
Preaching on the theme Back To The Future, based on the popular movie starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, she explained that the plot of the movie spoke of “time travelling” by its two main characters, in an attempt to change things in the past so that the present and future would be better.
Husbands said that besides the fact that the past is the past, we ought to learn from its good and bad.
But she reminded her audience: “We need our past like we need the rear view mirror for checking purposes, not steering purposes. We ought not to be tied to our past. If we dwell on its achievements, we can become arrogant and lack humility. If we dwell on our failures, we can become discouraged and defeatist.”
Husbands said while “we cannot travel back in time” and change everything that happened, we should be conscious of the present. No matter how good or bad the past looks, we have to get back to the future.”
She used the biblical story of David to show that no matter what challenges we face, there was overwhelming evidence of God’s reputation to take care of us.
“Our lives are like testimonies,”?she said.
“There are statements and declarations of who we are. Our attitudes, choices, dispositions, decisions, relationships, are all admissible evidence when we are being reviewed. As a result, we leave a legacy, whether positive or negative. It affects others and becomes a heritage for those who follow on after you.”
She shared biblical examples of individuals who made positive changes [after facing many challenges] including Jesus’ disciple Simon Peter, whom she referred to as a “cuss bird” and one who denied Jesus; King David, who was an adulterer and murderer, and Joseph, who although he was sold into slavery by his brothers, later became second in command to Pharoah.
She also used more modern day examples of people who overcame adversity and achieved great success.
Listed among these were veteran actor Harrison Ford who was told by movie executives early in his career that he did not have what it took to be a star; Walt Disney, who was fired from a newspaper because he was said to be lacking in imagination and original ideas; as well as basketball great Michael Jordan, who was released from a basketball team, but later rose to the top.
Husbands urged the students to make the most of their present by allowing God to direct their paths, and to take courage in the fact that God knows the [good] plans He has for them (Jeremiah 29: 11).
