Reflections & Why "Looking Back" is Key

You know those pictures with inspirational or encouraging phrases you find online (you can see my Pinterest board here)?  Well, I have a "thing" for words, and oftentimes I think there's much truth to what some of them say.  Sometimes they are Bible-based, sometimes not.  Sometimes they're right, and sometimes they're wrong.  Other times, they simply provoke a little thing called thought and reflection.

There's one I've seen recently that I liked initially...and then I decided there was a little bit of truth to it, but it didn't really allow for the whole picture.  It reads:  "Don't look back, you aren't going that way."

While I do think its important to keep your focus on what's ahead of you (whether its a short-term focus or an ultimate, eternal focus on God), and that we shouldn't dwell on our past mistakes, where this quote falls short for me is the fact that you may forget how far He's brought you in your journey and what He's accomplished during that time.  You wouldn't be able to compare your past to your present.

(I couldn't find the original source for this!  If you know, please tell me)

I think the "looking back" is important...necessary, even.  It causes reflection, which results in gratefulness.

Gratefulness for how He carried you through.

Gratefulness for what He taught you.

Gratefulness for His unending grace and unconditional love.

Gratefulness for His blessings.

And gratefulness for knowing that He hasn't accomplished His work in you.  He isn't finished yet.  You're still His work-in-progress.

A little personal reflection

The C.S. Lewis  quotation describes our summer for me, better than my own words could.  And not just our summer, even, but our entire parenting career, thus far.  And if you don't look back from time to time, you can't see how far you've come.  Just this summer, we went from this:

Camdyn, just out of the OR, post-Fontan on June 11th

All set up in her PICU room

There's a bunch of "extras" hiding beneath the blanket, too.

(Let's revisit that second picture one more time for points of reference, shall we?)

A couple of notes for reference

To this:

Camdyn, on our girls' date night Friday

And while we were in the trenches, it was difficult to see much change, if any, daily.  But reflecting on what it all looked like when we started the summer, it seems worlds away now.  And by "worlds" I mean "how was that only less than three months ago???"

We've never shared Camdyn's day-of or day-after surgery pictures in order to provide a bit of censoring for our little girl who just doesn't look like herself (and to protect those whose hearts would drop when seeing our sweet pea this way).  They always come out of surgery all puffy and swollen, with, what seems like, a million attachments and gadgets...all to work in protecting her sweet life. Initially, we choose not to take these pictures, but we always decide later that it would be such a testament to God's love and care for her to be able to show them to her later.  After recovery.  When she's doing great and back to herself.

So when you think about it, especially when you feel discouraged or at a standstill, just take a moment to glance back at your circumstances three, six, however-many-months ago.  Acknowledge the changes, the steps forward, the lessons learned.

And then give Him your sincerest gratitude.