In the movie Napoleon Dynamite we constantly see Napoleon's uncle, Uncle Rico, trying to relive his old high school football days. He is always telling people "Yeah... Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things had been different. I’d have gone pro in a heartbeat. I’d be making millions of dollars and living in a big ol’ mansion somewhere, soaking it up in a hot tub with my soul mate." Uncle Rico obviously resents what happened in the past. He wished there were things he could do to go back and change the course of his life. He even attempted to use a time machine to send him back to his glory days where he could make changes and change life for what he believed would be the better.
While this is a more extreme case, at least I hope none of us are running around recording our football skills at the age of 40, it is something that all of us deal with to a certain extent. We all have made mistakes in the past that we feel have altered our future. We, at times, strongly wish we could have a redo, a second chance to fix the things we've done wrong in our life with the hope that it would bring us a brighter future than we see. But no matter how hard we try to use a time machine to go back in time this won't work. We need to instead learn how to make a change and make the past the past.
Elder Holland in the January 2010 Ensign talked about this. He said "The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."
"So how do we get out of this wallowing in the past? We repent and have faith in the future. Elder Holland encourages us to "remember just enough to avoid repeating the mistake, but then put the rest of it all on the dung heap, dismiss the destructive, and keep dismissing it until the beauty of the Atonement of Christ has revealed to you your bright future and the bright future." He also says that "God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go."
And through our faith we need to build on the past but never long to stay there. Have faith in the future and that God has great things in-store for us if we will repent and have faith that the best is yet to come! May we all learn this lesson, especially Uncle Rico, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
To read more of Elder Holland's talk "The Best Is Yet To Be" Click Here
No comments:
Post a Comment