Look Backward to Move Forward

My dad threw me the car keys. “Take this deposit to the bank as quickly as you can. It closes soon.”

I was home from college and hurried out to our narrow driveway, choosing my mom’s station wagon as the last in a line of family vehicles.

Many people had the same last-minute bank errand on this Friday evening. I saw one of the lanes of the drive-through was empty. Too late, I realized that window was closed.

Just as I determined to pull through and hope for grace to merge right, a Brinks security truck pulled up and blocked my way forward. Feeling embarrassed as dozens of eyes watched my driving drama unfold, I began to back up.

Out of practice with the family car, I cut the wheel and began my retreat. Suddenly I heard a weird, unfamiliar sound. Too late I realized the passenger side door was scraping against the brick of the drive-through column.

I made the deposit and ran into the house as soon as I parked the wounded car in the driveway, crying and shouting, “I had a wreck!”

Seeing I was not injured, my dad chuckled, threw his arm around my shaking shoulders, and said, “So you had an encounter with the brick pillars? No big deal. We can fix it.”

My mother, the daily driver of the newly dented car, frowned, shook her head, and said, “You clearly need practice using your rearview mirrors.”

Each year we are tempted to barrel into making new resolutions without much reflection. Yet there is wisdom in looking back before moving forward.

LOOKING BACKWARD GIVES WISDOM FOR MOVING FORWARD 

At the beginning of a New Year, many are tempted to barrel into setting goals, making resolutions, starting new habits, and investing much time and money. All this action, without much reflection, can be fruitless.

God created us with a remarkable tool: our memory. We should use this rearview mirror in our mind to help us move forward wisely. Prayerfully searching through past events to find God’s work in our lives gives us a foundation to build upon with confidence and power.

Consider these words from Hag. 1:5–6 (MSG):  

And then a little later, God-of-the-Angel-Armies spoke out again:

“Take a good, hard look at your life.

    Think it over.

You have spent a lot of money,

    but you haven’t much to show for it.

You keep filling your plates,

    but you never get filled up.

You keep drinking and drinking and drinking,

    but you’re always thirsty.

You put on layer after layer of clothes,

    but you can’t get warm.

And the people who work for you,

    what are they getting out of it?

Not much—

    a leaky, rusted-out bucket, that’s what.

Spending time reflecting in God's presence and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring past events and experiences into view so that we can learn and move forward, while laying out our goals for the New Year, demonstrates our faith in God and our willingness to follow His lead.

EXAMINATION WITH INSIGHT 

God invites us to spend time reflecting in His presence, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring past events and experiences into view so that we can learn and move forward. Our job is to set aside time, settle into a posture of listening, put aside distractions, grab a pencil, take some deep breaths, and record what He causes us to remember.

Here are some sample questions you can use to stir up memories from the past year:

• Where did I encounter new challenges or risks?
• What accomplishments were completed? What projects were not completed?
• What activities brought me a sense of intimacy with the Lord? With others?
• What painful events took place?
• What surprises occurred?
• How did I obey the Lord? Disobey?
• What would have helped the year be more satisfying?

As we consider the pluses and minuses of the previous year, we cannot stay locked in the rearview, regretting or reveling. We must do as Paul tells us in Phil. 3:13–14:

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Laying out thoughts and goals for the New Year demonstrates faith in God, willingness to follow His leading, and hope that our lives will thrive and impact others for eternity. With proper review and an awakened understanding of what God has been doing in our lives, we are now ready to move forward.