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Have you ever noticed how much of today we waste trying to fix something that happened yesterday? We replay it, regret it, and sometimes allow it to determine the direction we travel next. Perhaps the problem isn’t what’s behind us, but where we keep looking. I invite you to read more.

I grew up in a much different time. During the 1960s, I spent a great deal of time at my grandparents’ very modest home in Norwalk, Ohio. They had no indoor running water. Water came from an outdoor well, and they had an outhouse, which still evokes some dreadful childhood memories. Their little house sat only a short distance from the railroad tracks, and at night passing trains would seemingly shake the entire house.

But when I think about my grandfather, Elmer, I most often picture him in his garden. To a young boy, it seemed enormous. He grew potatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, celery, dill, eggplant, cabbage and seemingly everything else, along with beautiful rows of gladiolas. Everyone seemed to know Elmer, and he gave away vegetables to people all over town. Well into his late seventies, he could still be found outside in the hot summer sun planting, weeding, plowing and harvesting.

My grandfather hard at work n his garden.

Almost everything was done by hand. I especially remember his old hand plow. He would grip its two handles and push it through the soil one long row at a time. His rows were remarkably straight because before beginning, he would put a stake at the far end of the garden. Then he would take hold of the plow and keep his eyes fixed on that stake.

Years later, I heard a radio commercial in which a man recalled learning to drive. He had been taught not to stare at the pavement immediately in front of the car but to look farther down the road. Looking too close caused him to constantly correct the steering and zigzag. We also know that if we become distracted by something off to one side, the car naturally begins drifting in the direction we’re looking.

We tend to move toward whatever holds our gaze. Perhaps that’s one reason these words of Jesus have always struck me so deeply: “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

Whenever I hear those words, I picture my grandfather with two hands on that old plow and his eyes fixed on the stake ahead. Imagine what his rows would have looked like if he had continually turned around to examine the ground behind him.

Yet isn’t that exactly what we sometimes do with our lives? We continually revisit sins, failures, regrets, wounds, embarrassing moments and bad decisions. We replay conversations we cannot change and lament opportunities that will never come again.

Certainly, we need to learn from the past. We need to acknowledge our sins, seek forgiveness, make amends when possible and understand our mistakes so that we don’t continually repeat them. But there is a difference between learning from yesterday and living in yesterday.

St. Paul gives us another direction for our attention: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious… think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). He then tells us to “keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen.” (Philippians 4:9)

In other words, stop staring backward. Fix your attention on what matters and keep moving forward. The Letter to the Hebrews makes our destination even clearer. We are told to “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)

There is our stake at the other end of the garden. My grandfather couldn’t straighten a crooked row by staring at the dirt behind him, and neither can we. Yesterday is finished. We cannot unsay yesterday’s words, undo yesterday’s sins or remake yesterday’s decisions. We can repent, learn, forgive, seek forgiveness and then choose what we will do today.

I hope my newest song touches your soul!

Maybe there are some crooked rows behind you. There are certainly some behind me. God isn’t asking us to pretend they aren’t there. But neither is He asking us to spend today staring at them. Put your hands back on the plow, fix your eyes on Jesus, and start today’s row.

Heavenly Father, help me learn from yesterday without becoming trapped there. When regret, shame or failure turns my eyes backward, turn my gaze toward Your Son. Help me keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and faithfully live the day You have given me. Amen.

My second music album, SONGS FOR THE SOUL,  was released on all major music platforms on October 15th. CLICK HERE to listen or download. 

AMDG

AMDG is a Latin abbreviation for “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” which means “For the Greater Glory of God.”

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Brian Pusateri

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. In June of 2014, Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired. The initial diagnosis was Multiple Scleroses (MS) but in December of 2019 the diagnosis was corrected to MOG antibody disease, a rare neurological disease. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.

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