Forget what is behind, and strain toward what is ahead
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But 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 heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14
Last month was packed with paperback-related challenges and the happy release of Pip's story in 'The Path', but something else, something harder to explain, was presenting a challenge to my writing in the background.
Book Five stars Angela, the eighteen-year-old musician who wears a variety of other hats in the Cedar River community. With my teenage years well behind me now, writing her story has forced me to look back as I try to remember the thought patterns and priorities of a teenager. I've been surprised at how challenging this has been - and how confronting.
While on the one hand, it's encouraging to reflect on the extent to which I've grown, becoming more and more the person whom I was created to be since those tender, trepidatious years, looking back with the benefit of hindsight has been deeply uncomfortable. It's hard to reconcile that version of myself with the person that I've become as I've grown in faith and wisdom through years of walking with the Lord.
Sitting quietly with God proved to be the antidote to my unprecedented writer's block, but the experience reminded me of Paul's words to the Philippians in chapter 3. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Paul urged the Philippians to forget what was behind and strain toward what is ahead, especially given his dramatic conversion from persecutor to follower of Christ. Having been raised to life in Christ, being transformed into His likeness offers us freedom not just from the shame of our mistakes and the times we missed the mark, but the versions of ourselves that we don't recognise anymore.
This is not to discourage you from celebrating the growth that you've experienced in your own life - not at all. That growth is a testimony to God's work and goodness in your life, and should be celebrated! My recent experience just illustrates the wisdom of Paul's advice to look forward, straining towards that which lies ahead of us - the good works for which God created us, but also the transformation within us as we walk with the Lord. We are not who we were - but we're not yet who we will become, either. And there's something beautiful about that.
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