“Fear not . . . be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things” 

One of the greatest impediments of moving forward is looking back. Sure, we have to use trends and data to be confident and understand where we have come from, but when we spend too much time in the past we can end up never moving forward, or moving in the wrong direction.  A farmer with an ox and plow, or a John Deere tractor knows this lesson all too well.  One look over the shoulder to see where they have hoed and they are now off line going forward.  We are all too quick in business to want to look over our shoulder and either congratulate ourselves for how far we have come or worse yet, get down on ourselves for the lack of progress to date.  We can’t spend our time in the rear-view mirror if we want to move forward boldly and with conviction.  So, gather the analysis needed, review it, make the needed hypothesis and learning and then put it away to move courageously and intently into this New Year.

We are reminded in God’s Word about what happened when Lot’s wife looked back.  We may not turn to a pillar of salt when we look back, but we are in many ways turning our back to God when we decide that we are going to let the past rule our future.  God is in no way a God of yesterday.  He came to give us a forward looking life with glorious promises of the future. When we look backwards we are not believing and trusting in what He can do for us in the coming year, months, days.  So, let’s today, as we complete this first work week of 2013, look only forward and be resolved to making this the best Purposed worKING  year of our lives.

Reference:  Joel 2:21