Looking BACK

Sunday was Micah's birthday! I can't believe he is 3 years old already- where did THAT time go? My favorite thing about Micah is his sense of humor and HIS laugh. He's also more stubborn than anyone I know, but I'd rather focus on the funny. On Friday I took Micah to the zoo. He LOVES the tanks with all the fish. There was one particular fish in the salt water tank that kept swimming back and forth along the bottom of the tank. Micah decided that fish was his "buddy" and he got so excited every time the fish came back.

One thing about your birthdays as a parent, is that you almost can't HELP but look back. You think about the day they were born or significant birthdays or events. Here's an awesome collage Bec did of Micah.

And looking into the past can certainly be fun sometimes. I LOVE looking at old pictures and Timehop is one of my favorite apps. But one thing I'm always careful NOT to say or think is "I WISH I could go back." Most of the time I wouldn't want too, but sometimes there are those moments I wish I could go through one more time.

However, honestly the way I look at history is this. History is a great place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there. What I mean by that is, the past COULD be great but we can't spend our time dwelling on what WAS instead of what WILL be.

There isn't a better Bible story to show this than Jesus Transfiguration. (Full Story HERE) What happened was, Jesus was with three of his disciples- Peter, James, and John. Jesus led them up a mountain and there those disciples saw Jesus in all his heavenly glory. They also saw Moses and Elijah- the great prophets who had gone to Heaven YEARS ago. Now Peter, when he sees this he doesn't want it to end. He suggests they build three tents- they celebrate and bask in this moment. Peter probably would have wanted to hear stories from Moses and Elijah- hear about the OLD days. But God tells Peter NO. God speaks saying, "“This is my beloved Son,^[a] with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” God changes Peter's focus on the past into the present and the future. The ministry Jesus is going to do is still greater than any ministry He has done before. 

That's the tricky thing about us looking back. There will always be moments in our lives we wish to recapture. Maybe there is a person in our past that we wished we could have back. If our focus then turns TOO much to the past, we are going to miss the present. IF I longed for the days of rocking Micah as a baby, I might miss out on Micah and his "buddy" fish at the zoo. 

AND here's the best part. Those people in our past who might no longer be here on earth? We REALLY haven't seen the last of them either. In this Bible story in Matthew, the disciples get to see Moses and Elijah again. The SAME will be true for us and our loved ones. If someone passes away and believes in Christ, we still get to have an eternity to spend with them in Heaven. In HEAVEN- a place with no sin or hurt. SO those cherished memories with those loved ones here on earth are great, but just image how amazing our time with them in Heaven will be?