Oswald Chambers wrote, “Beware of spending too much time looking back at what you once were when God wants you to become something you have never been”
This quote is highlighted in Ray Johnston’s book, The Hope Quotient, in which he makes the point that “Looking back is a terrible strategy for developing your gifts and pursuing your dreams. Looking back and comparing rather than looking ahead and dreaming just devastates hope.”
As leaders, we must have a good handle on the past and make sure that we learn the lessons from our history of trial and error, challenge and victory. However, what’s more important is that we keep our view forward. The only place we are going to be living is in the future, so we must let go of the past. To use the approach of the excellent ministry group Celebrate Recovery: We all have hurts, habits, and hang-ups, but we must learn to move past them. The people we lead need to know that a better future awaits, but we can only get there by looking and moving forward!
Fleetwood Mac sang “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Yesterday’s gone. Yesterday’s gone;” the Broadway character, Annie, sang “The sun’ll come out tomorrow;” and the apostle Paul stated, “One thing I do, forgetting what is behind, I look forward to what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13).
This is excellent advice for all of us.
Look forward and lead well.