The past is comfortable. Comfortable is safe. I’m not referring to a literal time and place in our past but our mental, emotional and spiritual places. The past is easy to return to because we know the roads. We know the monsters. We know the hideouts. We know what to expect. We knew who we were. It’s tempting to park ourselves where we know things. Knowing is comfortable. And comfortable is easy.
Every time we are promoted spiritually we enter new territory. We become newbies again. It’s the first day of Junior High, High School, College all over again. We are a small fry surrounded by the big dogs. We have to learn a new campus, identify the new bullies along with old ones that have followed us, we have to find our friends, our classrooms, and organize our schedule. When do we go to our locker and exchange our books for the next classes, when and where is lunch and who will we sit with? The list of new experiences and reorganizing is endless. There may be a little bit of anxiety and shaking that takes place.
It would be easier for some of us to hang out in our elementary school forever. It’s familiar! We knew the campus. We knew the teachers. We knew where we fit. And we knew all the answers! We had our safe bubble memorized. But imagine how ridiculous it would be to see an adult sitting in a 3rd grade classroom! Growing physically but never mentally or emotionally! Not to mention creepy! Thankfully society would never let this happen. Society has a way of pushing us to keep going and hitting important goals. Red flags are waved when we begin to fall behind. For the most part society has a good way of escorting us into the next phases of our lives, social pressure can be motivating.
Unfortunately, our spiritual graduations and transitions are not readily on display and it’s easier to hang back and chill out where we feel safe and comfortable. We don’t really have to graduate. I mean, who is paying that much attention to us? We can fake it. We can mimic more mature people and remain in elementary school or junior high forever. Who is really going to know? But, rest assured staying behind looks just as strange and creepy in the spiritual realm as it does in the natural. How long can you remain in spiritual 3rd grade? Year after year you remain the same. You may even find that you can convince others to hang back with you for a while. You become a stumbling block.
Other times, however, we are anxious about the new territory we are entering into, but we obediently move forward all while looking back longing for the old days. The days when things were known. The days we knew our part, and place. This is normal. It’s tempting. Though we may not purposely try to hang back like some, we may be tempted to taste the past one more time, or we may slowly drift back without realizing it. If we successfully back track, we will be hit with a rude awakening. We no longer fit! We’ve out grown those places, we’ve graduated. We’ve passed the tests and there is no longer a place for us back there. It’s not the same as we romanticized in our minds.
I’d like to encourage you the way I encourage myself. Be brave and courageous. The only direction for a child of God is forward. We have to snap ourselves out of the unhealthy head spaces and ignore the voices beckoning us backwards. Those voices and feelings are lies trying to keep us stuck. If you’ve truly leveled up, you will be disappointed returning to the past. It won’t satisfy. It will be empty and you will feel out of place. So why spend time glorifying it as something it’s not and will never be again? The only direction is forward.
Let’s enter the new seasons of our lives and fill the places God has created for us. No matter the insecurity, anxiety and unknowns surrounding you, trust that this new territory will soon become familiar. It will become your new home. A new place of comfort and success. You will soon thrive in this new season. We can’t let the adjustment period psych us out. Just as we have to break in a new pair of shoes or jeans, we have to break in new spaces and territories. No one goes into the next grade level knowing everything. We all start as beginners over and over again.
Every time we are promoted spiritually we enter new territory. We become newbies again. It’s the first day of Junior High, High School, College all over again. We are a small fry surrounded by the big dogs. We have to learn a new campus, identify the new bullies along with old ones that have followed us, we have to find our friends, our classrooms, and organize our schedule. When do we go to our locker and exchange our books for the next classes, when and where is lunch and who will we sit with? The list of new experiences and reorganizing is endless. There may be a little bit of anxiety and shaking that takes place.
It would be easier for some of us to hang out in our elementary school forever. It’s familiar! We knew the campus. We knew the teachers. We knew where we fit. And we knew all the answers! We had our safe bubble memorized. But imagine how ridiculous it would be to see an adult sitting in a 3rd grade classroom! Growing physically but never mentally or emotionally! Not to mention creepy! Thankfully society would never let this happen. Society has a way of pushing us to keep going and hitting important goals. Red flags are waved when we begin to fall behind. For the most part society has a good way of escorting us into the next phases of our lives, social pressure can be motivating.
Unfortunately, our spiritual graduations and transitions are not readily on display and it’s easier to hang back and chill out where we feel safe and comfortable. We don’t really have to graduate. I mean, who is paying that much attention to us? We can fake it. We can mimic more mature people and remain in elementary school or junior high forever. Who is really going to know? But, rest assured staying behind looks just as strange and creepy in the spiritual realm as it does in the natural. How long can you remain in spiritual 3rd grade? Year after year you remain the same. You may even find that you can convince others to hang back with you for a while. You become a stumbling block.
Other times, however, we are anxious about the new territory we are entering into, but we obediently move forward all while looking back longing for the old days. The days when things were known. The days we knew our part, and place. This is normal. It’s tempting. Though we may not purposely try to hang back like some, we may be tempted to taste the past one more time, or we may slowly drift back without realizing it. If we successfully back track, we will be hit with a rude awakening. We no longer fit! We’ve out grown those places, we’ve graduated. We’ve passed the tests and there is no longer a place for us back there. It’s not the same as we romanticized in our minds.
I’d like to encourage you the way I encourage myself. Be brave and courageous. The only direction for a child of God is forward. We have to snap ourselves out of the unhealthy head spaces and ignore the voices beckoning us backwards. Those voices and feelings are lies trying to keep us stuck. If you’ve truly leveled up, you will be disappointed returning to the past. It won’t satisfy. It will be empty and you will feel out of place. So why spend time glorifying it as something it’s not and will never be again? The only direction is forward.
Let’s enter the new seasons of our lives and fill the places God has created for us. No matter the insecurity, anxiety and unknowns surrounding you, trust that this new territory will soon become familiar. It will become your new home. A new place of comfort and success. You will soon thrive in this new season. We can’t let the adjustment period psych us out. Just as we have to break in a new pair of shoes or jeans, we have to break in new spaces and territories. No one goes into the next grade level knowing everything. We all start as beginners over and over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment