Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past
December is here! I can hardly believe we’re already in the final month of this year. 😱
While most people like to take December to start looking ahead and make some New Year’s resolutions, I prefer to look back and contemplate what the year has meant or how it changed me.
That’s why this week, we will go through 7 contemplations to end the year right.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines contemplation as:
To consider one particular thing for a long time in a serious and quiet way.
In our busy lives, it is tempting to focus solely on the next thing that lies ahead, but there is power and beauty in taking time to look back.
Paul writes:
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. – Philippians 4:8 NKJV
However, just a chapter earlier, he wrote:
One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. – Philippians 3:13 NKJV
So, are we supposed to contemplate or forget??🤔
Both!
We need to let go of the parts of our past that hold us back, such as our pain, resentment, or failures, and instead contemplate those things that add value to our lives, like lessons, insights, achievements, and meaningful relationships.
That’s why our first contemplation is: What negative experience(s) from this year should I be letting go?
Take your time and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you in prayer. Then surrender those experiences, along with all the negative emotions that accompany them.
God says:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
