Path to success - let it go.

One of the paths to success is the willingness, yes the choice, to let go of the past.

 

Here's what I know:  Getting stuck in the past will limit your opportunity for success in the present and the future.

 

Have you ever been around someone - where all they talk about are their perceived wounds and hurts that previously took place in their lives?

 

While there is a window of the grieving process that needs to take place when you or I are hurt - there comes a point where we need to "let it go" and move on.

 

No one likes to be around anyone who lives in the past - in fact, if you find that people are choosing to avoid you like the plaque - that just might be the reason why.

 

As the main song in the movie Frozen states, "Let it go, let it go."

 

That's my word to you today:  Let it go.  Let it go and let God be God.

 

Here's what happens when you and I live in past hurts:

 

We limit what God can do in our lives in the present.  God will not work on our behalf.

 

We ruin present relationships.

 

We forget that life is not fair.

 

We can begin to play the "victim card"  and think that we are the only one who has ever been hurt.

 

We don't understand that many times we are not being mistreated at all - but it is simply a reflex response to past hurts. 

 

Here's what I know:  Hurting people hurt easily.  Hurting people hurt easily because of feelings of insecurity in their lives.

 

Some people guard the wounds from the past like an old friend.  It comforts them - gives them something to talk about over dinner.  They begin to rely upon that "old friend" like a crutch. 

 

Paul writes in Philippians 4:13, "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."

 

Now then, let me give you five steps to victory in this area:

 

One, forgive those who have hurt you.  This is a one-time act; but yet it is a process as well.  Every time those feelings of anger and unforgiveness rise up - forgive them again and again and again.

 

Two, pray for them as God has told us to do.  I mean really pray for them.  I would suggest that you will never ultimately resent those whom you pray for.

 

Three, bless those who have hurt you.  Do something nice for them anonymously.  Treat them with kindness when they cross your path.

 

Four, speak well of them.  Refuse to talk unkindly about those who hurt you.  Don't keep talking about what your enemies did that hurt you.  That will only stir up the pain within  you.  (Friends, this is huge.  Probably the most important one of the five).

 

Five, wait on God.  Galatians 6:9 shares with us, "And let us not be weary in well doing:  for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Don't give up.  Keep doing what is right (the five above steps) and wait on God to change your feelings.

 

Let it go...let it go...let it go...let it go.....

 

Just a thought for a Thursday.