Looking back, reflecting, evaluating.  There are so many aspects to retrospection.  Lately I have been inspired what Gordon T. Smith in Courage and Calling wrote about this aspect of our faith journeys.  He states that “[t]hrough retrospection we interpret how our identity and our call have unfolded in the whole of our life experience thus far.”  Isn’t that so true of our Lord.  To not waste any experience but allow all the trials and triumphs shape us into who he created us to be and also how we get to enter into his Kingdom work here on earth.

He also states that “[r]estrospection also includes coming to terms with the difficult moments in our journey.”  Throughout studying 2 Peter we are reminded that we should not be surprised by suffering and trials here on earth.  I am not sure if that is always consoling in the midst of great pain and heartache but I do know it has been a part of the conversations with younger women I have been having lately.  Just the recognition that life happens and it doesn’t seem to always turn out they way we anticipate or desire.  That  we experience hurt both from our own sin but also from the sins of others.  In this retrospection and looking back we can allow Jesus to enter into that pain and bring a healing that comforts and also allows us the freedom to enter into the hurting places of others.

Smith continues by saying “[w]e must look back, but we look back so that we can be fully present to the current situation, to the current moment, to the real circumstances of our current life situation.  Everything in our lives is a prelude to the present moment, to the present event, to the opportunities that are before us now.”  So that challenge exists to live in the present.  To not long for a past that may or may not have existed or a future that may or may not be.  But to just allow those moments that have shaped my past be a catalyst into what the Lord has for me in this present moment.

It is there that the tension lies.  Am I willing to listen, to engage in relationship with my Lord in such a dynamic way that I hear what He has for me?  Am I willing to embrace the present and be fully available to live into the moments now?