Be Thankful for the Past...but Don't Live in It

My senior year in high school, I was fully entrenched in the hockey lifestyle. I worked a job at a local ice rink as a "skate guard," which is kind of like a peace-keeper/first aid/safety ensuring person. I played hockey every Monday night, and I played on a local team which played on Saturday nights, and even the occasional Sunday night (to which I did not appreciate). When that was over, I played adult hockey league in the best league in my home city. I was looking forward to playing hockey in college, but this did not pan out well as my interests quickly changed toward ministry.
I remember vividly living off of the steam of my hockey days, using this as a calling card to gain attention and to make friends. It was something I was good at and enjoyed. Hockey did not last. I have hardly skated since I got married; I haven't ice skated in almost two years, and I haven't played hockey in probably eight years. In those days, I wanted a career out of the sport, somehow, someway. I even went off to college hoping to major in journalism just to be attached to the game still.
The fumes of those days have faded, and I cannot run on them. Humans like to do this often--we love those "glory days" of high school, or college, or a certain achievement. There's times, too, where we are thankful that we don't have to return to those memories. I have plenty of both! (Would you like some?!)
God has called for us to be thankful people, people who would be reminded of His goodness and to revel in His greatness in our history as well as all of history. Might I suggest to you, though, that today is the present and the past is gone? What happened twenty years ago, five years ago, two days ago, one minute ago, is past and is now concrete history. It can't be changed, it can only be remembered and we live with the effects. As you live this day, even right now, use your time to the glory of God. Make decisions that are reflective of His guidance in your life. Study the Bible and realize what kind of character God would want you to have, and make the most of this day. We can dwell on the past to the extent that it clouds our vision of what we should be doing today. Praise the Lord for His goodness, praise Him for this new day.

Be thankful for the past...but don't live in it.

Philippians 3:13-16 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;
however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.