And we’re back! I’m glad you’re here today, and that you stuck with me through the challenging heart-work involved in facing the makeup-mirror view of our sinfulness. This week, we bring our focus back off ourselves and start looking around, specifically at what we see in our rearview mirrors.
Since I have two kids who are fresh to the driving world (yikes), we’ve had lots of conversations about the purpose of the rearview mirror. If I’m honest, until those conversations, I took the rearview mirror for granted. I know I use it often, but it’s like an involuntary process, simply a reflex. It really is a handy device for keeping you alert, helping you look backwards to monitor the environment, and letting you keep your forward focus the whole time.
Well, what if we thought about it more intentionally? (Yes, here’s where we transition from literal to figurative.) What if we took a moment to examine more carefully how we frame our pasts? What would that look like for you?
If we acknowledge that the rearview mirror helps us stay alert while driving, then in order to carry our metaphor forward, we’d have to say that looking to the past helps us stay alert. Alert to what, you ask? I’d be a fool not to mention the famous line, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (Santayana). Essentially, if you don’t learn the life lessons attached to your experiences, you may find yourself right back in the midst of the same troubles. If we’ve been adequately prepared by our past experiences, we’re on alert for the signs and symptoms that created the challenges. This kind of reflection is a critical, inherent component of a purposeful life.
As I mentioned above, the rearview mirror helps you see what’s behind you to monitor your driving environment. When we transfer that logic over to purposeful living, we see that looking to the past is indeed a blessing. Memories hold the stories of our lives that make us who we are. They capture the faces of those we love and help us fondly remember those we lost. They help us make conversation and form new connections, and they can even serve as fuel for the imagination. It’s worth glancing back at your past – the good and the bad – to see how far you’ve come and to recognize how brilliantly God is writing your story.
That being said, not one of you would tell my brand-new drivers to attach their gaze to the rearview mirror for too long. That’s dangerous! No, the rearview mirror is sized and positioned in such a way that it prevents you from losing your forward focus. There’s a reason your windshield has so much glass compared to the rearview mirror!
Use the past to help you stay alert to your habits, patterns, and decisions. Use it to hold onto the precious faces and experiences that make your life your own. And use the past for quick glances only, knowing your life keeps moving forward and you need to step firmly into it. Your purpose is waiting!
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