Today’s my birthday. It’s a perfect time to urge each of you to give yourself evidence for moving forward in life. Last week I reminded you of the wisdom of Dory to “just keep swimming,” to keep moving forward through the tough ongoing days of life. Sometimes though what you need is evidence to be reminded you aren’t alone and that there is hope.
A birthday is a good time for that. See, we celebrate birthday’s as a reminder of having passed through another 12 months of life. It is a reflection backwards. In my family, as we have a celebratory dinner, we each tell special stories of memory of the person who we are celebrating. Often my mother will regale me with stories about my birth, just as I do my daughters. You get this with the number we assign…it is the number of the year just completed. It reflects looking back.
As a historian, I highly applaud this as I believe we find our path forward by first understanding the context of the events from the past that led to this moment. In this, then, is a key to Success for Life. Far too often, we forget everything that has happened previously. That is particularly detrimental when we confront something negative in life.
So, Whenever I’m tempted to give up rather than choosing to endure and persevere, I usually pull out old journals and prophetic words that I’ve received over the years to remind myself of God’s faithfulness and specific promises to me. I look back at my journals or even (in the past 20 years) re-read old emails. I will save special words of encouragement, whether from a student or from my parents or children. Letters from my wife Kim are particularly important in this regard.
Every time I look back on the timeline of my own story, I see God’s grace, redemption and protection. It’s so important that we remember where we have come from, but it’s even more important that we remember the personal defining moments when God has exhibited His faithfulness. Sometimes, if nothing else, taking time to reorient oneself to the path that led to this moment allows me to remember the decisions that were made.
It’s these moments of history that carry us through difficult seasons and give us hope. And when we choose to endure and remain in hope rather than throwing in the towel when times get tough, one thing is certain: We are on our way to fully living.