Reflection
When we are preoccupied with the past we can become numb to newness. We risk missing opportunities offered for the future. Our memories are reservoirs of our life stories. They can help us to learn from the past. Although we cannot live in memories, they can enable us to make choices that will lead us to spiritual maturity. They can effect for us the fullness of the present and enable our growth for the future. We cannot embrace every new revelation or opportunity thoughtlessly, but to be stuck in the past and refuse to be open to new discoveries is death dealing. Balance and integration are the essential keys to living life productively.
Prayer
Spirit of Wisdom, help me to remember what will make me whole and to let go of what may impede my growth.
Action
I will try to see “something new” that is opening for me today.
Suggested Reading
No need to recall the past,
No need to think about what was done before.
See, I am doing a new deed
Even now it comes to light: can you not see it
Isaiah 43: 18- 19
Memory… is the diary that we all carry about with us.
Oscar Wilde
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
T.S. Eliot
If you accuse others for your mistakes, you will learn nothing from your mistakes.
Amit Kalantri
Every second you dwell in the past you steal from your future. Every moment you spend fpcusing on your problems you take away from finding your solutions.
Robin Sharma
When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Dian Fossey
You are more than your mistakes. You are more than your past. The present might be rough, but the future is always bright as long as you reach for it.
K. Weike
When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old.
Bill Clinton
We must always have old memories and young hopes.
Arsene Houssaye