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The way I look at life, it doesn't seem necessary to discard anything old. My like is like a backpacking trip across the wilderness of life. Each day, each step along the way is just all part of the path I am taking through this life. I was dropped into this life with parents. They gave me the initial supplies for the trip.....food, clothing, some guidance (not as much as is really needed as they didn't have it themselves to give), but mostly, the knowledge that God is my guide on this trip through life....a protector in some ways, but definitely never kept the bad things out of my life.....or I never would have learned & survived to learn even more & trust even greater.
As I traveled through my path, I came across beautiful waterfalls, lakes, streams. For the most part, the beginning was lacking any huge major events just feelings & experiences that taught me how to handle the trip a bit better, thoughts that work better than others, & definitely some things that I knew to leave alone farther down the path. Every once in awhile, I would get too close to the camp fire & get singed......learning not to build such a huge fire the next time & not get so close.......or not stick my hot sore feet into the glacier fed lake that looked so nice & refreshing & inviting. Heat & cold can both cause pain if we aren't careful. Each step I took & each fork in the path I chose to follow were just that. They were experiences & decisions made & sometimes I would just sit next to the meadow & watch if for awhile & take it all in, observing for an extended period than just walking through.
I had a destination I was aiming for & wasn't sure the exact path & the directions were definitely NOT clear but God guided me through & let the things happen that needed to happen to develop the skills & thoughts necessary for the future trails ahead. I found that there really wasn't anything to really discard since as I traveled through the path, I looked at steps ahead wondering what was over the next hill or around the next bend......but the past were all steps that I took to where I was.....nothing to get rid of & nothing to dwell on.....just steps necessary to get to where I was & to where I am going.
God has been with me throughout this trip even though at many times, I rather ignored that fact & sometimes blew off any directions other than what was on my own mind. Looking back, I see those were the times when the thunderstrom came up out of nowhere & hit without warning. I took shelter in my little pup tent, trying to keep as dry as possible as rain leaked in through the saturated tent material & the rain came running all around the tent on the ground, wanting to wash me down the canyon. Several times, I also came across a cliff right in the middle of my path. There was no way around it, or down it without crashing to my death & several times, the loose footing under my feet did give way & I crashed & fell very hard getting damaged at the time. It was during those times when people whose path crossed mine at the time were there to help me when I needed it. Even though I would have never admitted it then, I know that God provided that help & I survived the injuries. Several times during the journey, there have been wild animals that were out to harm me & prey on me. They succeeded on taking some huge bites out of me & doing some harm but again, there was help that crossed my path at just the right time to help me survive the injury. All those injuries existed & were all part of my backpacking trip through my life. The supplies I continued to carry with me were things I picked up along the way that I knew would come in handy for the future if I ever came across anything like in the past. Each day were more steps toward my final destination & each experience wasn't something to discard, but something to learn from & to grow with.
When out in the wilderness trails, it is important to share warnings & experiences with others & listen closely to what others offer who cross our path & walk with us for awhile. It is important to keep the information we have gained from ALL the experiences not just the good as it is mostly the bad experiences that we learn from the most. It can mean the difference between surviving & not.
I have also come to realize over the last part of my trip these few years, that God is actually more active in my life that I ever wanted to admit or even allow. It hasn't taken away the rocks to stumble over or the tree limbs that keep wacking me in the head, but what it has done is help put into perspective ALL that has happened in my life (the good, the bad, & the extremely horrible) My path is lit much brighter now than it was before & the beauty is even more brilliant. I am able to see some pitfalls before I fall into them based on my complete past & my acceptance of God's complete guidance of my life now.
Just another way of looking at one's past,
Debbie
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Leo's favorite place was in the passenger seat of my truck. We went everywhere together like this.
Leo my soulmate will live in my heart FOREVER Nov 1, 2002 - Dec 16, 2018
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