Skip to main content

Leaving Yesterday Behind


There are some days that my attitude and emotions feel like they are in the same disease category as arthritis. When the weather changes and a new season is coming in I am reminded of old memories: the smell of fresh cut grass in the spring, and wood smoke of fall bonfires, a warm breeze after a long winter...it all brings back a flood of memories that won't go away. You say...what's wrong with memories? Nothing, unless you let them control your thoughts. I've lived in the country with all of these smells and hundreds more for 22 years of my life only to be uprooted and taken to a stinky, smoggy, dark city. As fall comes around so does my "arthritis" of memories. As the holidays approach I wonder what traditions I will have to give up and what new ones I will be asked to embrace?
Memories are one of the sweetest things about life. Some people only remember the good and others only the bad. Memories are all about the time you've spent doing the things you love, or pushing through the rough times, they have taught many lessons, lessons we should never forget,  but to dwell on the past wishing today away will harm your life more than you can imagine. It is the fastest way to make yourself discontent and unhappy with any situation you are in. Just this weekend I allowed myself to have a walk down memory lane and almost lost the joy of two or three days. I had just spent a beautiful weekend at my parents with my husband, relaxing and enjoying a fall weekend to the fullest doing many things that we used to do as a family when I was younger. Starting on Sunday afternoon not long before we were supposed to leave, I fell into a memory lane epidemic thinking of what it used to be like, how it will never be that way again, and how my life is so different than this beautiful weekend. I grumped, I pouted, I got mad at the world, my husband, and life for not being the way I wanted it to be. I lost 2 1/2 days to pouting about the past, a past that I have glorified in my mind, forgetting every bad moment and seizing every possible lovely thing and magnifying beyond it's normal size.
Once again I must run to the Word of God to pull me away from my pity party.

 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil: 3:13-14)

Today is the day that God wants me to live - not yesterday. He has so many things in store for me today, but I think He probably had to reschedule some events and take some away because I used up too much time in yesterday - in a day that can't be changed. I can work on creating the atmosphere that my parents did for me, for my children.  No one wants to live in someone else's past, but I'm sure they would love to share in the sweet memories and traditions of the past.
What does today hold for me? How can I make today sweet and wonderful? Can I add an element of my past, or think of something new and wonderful to add? My day is what I make it...and I resolve to make today a day I think back on as a good memory because I lived out today (not yesterday) to its fullest.

Sarah
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Make Your Apartment More Homey - Part 5

Welcome to part 5 of my mini series "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". Once you get a grasp on the first four topics you've really got something going for you. These last two steps are definitely not the meat of the problem.  Today we will focus on - The Color Palette. A little bit of color theory wouldn't hurt anyone. I realize that we are alway feeling the need to try something new and be a little different. It's called fashion, and that's okay. Be different! Make a statement! It's good to try something new. But if it's ugly just say so, don't lie to save your pride. Your pride has already been painted all over that new yellow couch!  You can google a basic color wheel and the different ways to pair the colors or most people have an eye for what looks good together. It's usually a good thing to stick with the same hue (bold with bold, or pastels with pastels, and burnt colors with burnt colors) but even that isn't alwa...
3 comments
Read more

2025 Reading Challenge

 Today Rural Simplicity is bringing you a Reading Challenge for the new year!  25 Books in 2025.      This is a very personalized list that came about when my favorite reading challenge people didn't put out a reading challenge for next year. I plopped myself down in front of my large TBR (to be read) stack and started making a list of categories.       I am going to walk you through my list in comparison to my TBR stack to give you an idea of where you could start. But like any good reading challenge you will nudge it this way and that to fit your needs and lifestyle. One thing I would not recommend is  fitting it to your likes.  One point of a reading challenge is to broaden your perspective and get you out of your comfort zone. One last point to address is that it's okay to not finish the challenge by December 31st. Again your goal is to read, not finish, or rush, or stress out. Just read and enjoy. Let it soak in slowly and cons...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spring Cleaning Challenge Day 6 Psalm 51:10

Welcome to your first day of rest. Tomorrow is Sunday, a day that should be put aside to worship the Lord and to rest your body from physical activity. Each Sunday we will meditate on a verse that reflects having a clean heart. Because we all know that a spotless house doesn't make us truly happy. Only a clean heart can keep a smile on our faces. Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,  and renew a right spirit within me.  What does a clean heart look like? Who judges wether the heart is clean or not? Who cares about your heart more than anyone else? Just like we have been pulling out our furniture this week looking for dust bunnies, take a moment to pull out the furniture in your life and look for "Me" bunnies. Search out your heart for selfish things you've tucked away, whether it be a secret, a personal pleasure, a blatant sin, or an old heartache.  When you've found them, take them all one by one and lay them out in a straight row in front of...
2 comments
Read more