Ahead
A Five Minute Friday Challenge
Recently at work, I received the notice to change my password. It is sent ahead of time, so that I will not be locked out of my email and everything else at work. Each year my password is some form of "my one word" for the year. So, this little reminder had me thinking ahead to what 2021 may bring.
Earlier in my life, I had looked backward a lot to the past. Rehashing situations in my mind, seeing if I could have done things differently or better. I liked the "good old days" when things seemed easier or simpler because I wasn't quite an adult yet; less responsibility.
Then, as I grew older, I found myself always looking ahead. Looking forward to things that would happen. Times that I could fill up my calendar with trips, conferences, and even dinners or coffee dates with friends. (However, as we all know, 2020 and Covid has really put a damper on that. So much has been canceled or changed. At times it feels like too much, but on the other hand, I can't believe it's almost the middle of November already!)
Sometimes, I found myself looking so far ahead, that I missed the present. My husband, Jonathan, recently posted on social media, "perhaps there is an invitation to be attentive to opportunities, brief as they may be, to pause and to be fully present with the people that God has placed in our path."
The seeming chaos of this year has not surprised God, but it sure has led me to think ahead to His coming again to take us to our eternal home with Him. As I was preparing to write this blog, this passage from Philippians 3:12-14 (New Living Translation) ran through my mind:
"I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
And in The Passion Translation:
"I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfill and wants me to discover. I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus."
As we ask God "what is ahead", may we include the present, so we don't miss out on God's plan as we look to Him for our future.
This post was prompted by Kate Motaung's "Five Minute Friday," which she hosts on the Five Minute Friday website. Kate posts a single word each week and each blogger sets a timer for 5 minutes to write and then posts, with little editing. (Some weeks I have more trouble with that part than others.) Check out the other writers on this topic!
