Objects in the Mirror

Here I sit on the first day of 2016 looking at 2015 in the rear view mirror and humming a Mac Davis song from the 1970’s. (Yes, I am old!) “Happiness is Lubbock, Texas in my rear-view mirror…” If you have ever spent any time in Lubbock, you may agree. If your 2015 was as difficult as mine and many others you may be paraphrasing Mac and singing, “Happiness is 2015 in my rear view mirror.”

Trust me, I get it.

Ah, but if you are as old as I am or if you rent DVD’s, you may remember that scene from the original Jurassic Park movie. You know the one where Jeff Goldblum, Sam Eliot, Laura Dern, et al are riding in a jeep being chased by a T-Rex. Jeff Goldblum looks in the mirror and we, the audience, are given a moment of comic relief. We see the T-Rex looking tiny and far away and then the words printed on the mirror, “Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear.”

And that is always the challenge in moving forward. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” as Paul writes in Philippians 3 is sometimes difficult because “objects in the mirror”may be too close and if you are like me you have a tendency to manage that poorly. We cannot outrun the T-Rex of our past and we certainly don’t want to carry it into 2016.

This morning I was struck by John 1:16, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” So I sat with my journal open and asked the Holy Spirit to show me the fullness and grace of 2015: websites and women’s retreats, faithful friends and fresh relationship with family were among the graces. Now, the hard part. The Holy Spirit also showed me where and when I chose emptiness and poverty instead of grace, fullness, and abundance. Painful to realize how my self-protective nature caused me to withdraw from relationships, how my lack of trust caused weight gain and a cycle of self-loathing from which I thought I was free. The Lord was so loving and gentle as He spoke with me about these things, and He is really excited about sharing 2016 with me AND with you.

I want us to move forward with confidence. So here is my proposal. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to interpret our past, to show us 2015 through His eyes so we can use the rear view mirror to avoid collisions, to change lanes appropriately and to “ease on down the road” in 2016. Indeed let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us “make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” How can our lives provide a straight path for God to show up in my family, my work place, my neighborhood in 2016? You won’t know unless you ask.