As the Sea Turns ~ The Joy of Looking Backwards
I love to go on a cruise. Kelly and I have taken two 8-day cruises in our marriage – pre-pandemic of course. In both instances, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting up on the highest deck in the morning time and walking. One of the coolest part of walking up that high is the fact that you can see the ship’s wake in the sea. When you look behind the ship, you can see the ship’s wake. In the Caribbean at least, the ocean is a different color where the ship has been. In fact, at night, it is absolutely incredible. As the sea turns and you get a sense of where you have been, the joy of looking backwards becomes evident. You can see all the adjustments of the ship in the water over the past while.
As Your Life Goes ~ The Joy of Looking Backwards
Recently while teaching a class at Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary, I thought of this joy on top of a cruise ship while talking about self-counsel. Self-counsel refers to taking God’s Word and applying it at our own personal heart and life. In the process of self-counsel, I often remind students and counselees of the importance of looking backwards in time as well. It is good to consider the past as you contemplate on your present and future.
What will you find there?
- Places where you have grown in the past. As you look, you’ll notice places where you have grown. As trials, pressures, and struggles beat upon the shores of your life, God used those to grow you in spiritual maturity. When we stop to see these things, they provide both insight for the present and encouragement to us. It may be individual places or seasons of life that really stand out to us.
- Places where you have been encouraged. Looking backwards also helps us see those people and circumstances where we have been greatly encouraged. Maybe it is a friends during a particular season, or a word fitly spoken, or a selfless deed from an unexpecting person, or whatever that encouraged us in the past. As we contemplate it, it can encourage us in the present.
- Sermons where you have been exhorted. As we look backwards, we might remember special sermons we heart that helped change the trajectory of our lives. I certainly remember some of those over time. The past almost-twenty years, I have been the primary speaker so it is fewer than the previous thirty years. Sermons from my dad, Joe Decker, and others have deeply impacted me in the past.
- People who have been just what we needed. Looking backwards also reminds us of key people who have been God’s special grace to us in our walk with the Lord as well. These individuals have been just what our soul’s needed in a particular time period to deeply impact our walk with Christ.
- Forgiveness granted in Christ. We would do ourselves a disservice to miss all the places where we have experienced the forgiveness of Jesus Christ over time. How marvelous! Oh how wonderful! God forgives and forgives and forgives.
This just scratches the surface of what you can see if you take a moment to look backwards in the wake of life.
Take a Moment to Enjoy the View
Many days any one of us can be discouraged on how far we still need to go in order to become like Christ. Depending upon the particular pressures in your life today, you might be quite discouraged in fact. However, you can face today’s pressures in the grace of Christ better when you take a moment to see how that same grace at previous times and in previous places also provided for you and helped you grow. What a joy to look backwards to see what God has done.
If you are wanting just an extra shot of encouragement today or have specific difficulties you are currently working through, let me encourage you today to take a few moments to look backwards to see where you have been, what God’s grace has looked like, and receive encouragement for the day ahead.
A fun link to learn more about cruise ship wakes.
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
Ah, yes, at eight-two I frequently climb to that deck and look over that long wake behind. From the day at age fourteen when I stood on the hill above our farm and gandered at the six farmhouse I could see and told God, “If what these people have is marriage, you can keep it!” On a human level, I had good parents and extended family, but the intamcy I perceived should be there was missing. Then there was the day, a month after my first indepth conversation with Pam, I sat down with her and told her, “I cannot tell you I am in love with you. But, I can tell you that I am thinking I would like to be. Would you like to walk with me and discover if the Lord is bringing our lives together? (Or words of that sort). Thanks for the imagery, Kevin, I will use it in counseling.
Awww love the testimony my friend! Yes. Perfect example of watching God’s faithfulness in the wake of life.