“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
On a trip to my hometown, I drove down memory lane. Passing schools where I attended, stores where I had shopped, restaurants where I had dined, plus all too familiar streets and houses unleashed memory after memory as I drove around town. I wish I could say these were all good memories. None were horrible, but many left me wondering why my mind diverted down these forgotten paths to places unbidden, leaving me feeling less than nostalgic and more introspective.
Letting these memories wash over me like waves on a lonely seashore in some ways felt cathartic and therapeutic. As I named these memories for simply being just memories, they began to lose their power over me. Lifting these burdens up to God, I allowed the waves to rinse me clean of yesteryear as these thoughts receded into the depths of the sea in my mind’s eye.
What is this tremendous pull the past has on me? Like the lunar tug on the sea creating wave after wave, the past tugs on my mind and heart. Sometimes, the past comes back to haunt me in the form of regret and sadness, tinged with hopelessness and mingled with a sense of emptiness, washing up on the beaches of my soul, day after day, year after year.
How can I shake off this grip from the past? As I continued driving, I found myself involuntarily shaking my head. Perhaps not hard enough to dislodge the phantoms of the past permanently, but it was enough to clear my brain so I could thank God for my present and to have hope for the future.
Thankfulness creates a sense of joy, a blanket of contentment under which I can crawl when I have allowed my mind to creep back to the past. Being thankful covers the emptiness, the sadness, with a healing balm, soothing the corners of my mind and smoothing out all in between, with God’s peace and presence.
Where do you go into the past? Is your trip backward disturbing or healing? Do you let the memories of yesterday wash over you for cleansing or do these waves crash on the beach of your mind, jarring you into time you thought you had forgotten?
I love the fact that God isn’t bound by time. He is simultaneously in our past, present, and future. When we turn to him in our present with the load of the past on our backs, He gently lifts our burdens, nailing them to the cross. In the present, we can experience the gift of Himself, full of comfort and healing, true rest for the weary soul. As He leads us forward, we are free from our past, free to be who He created us to be, with a hope and a future.
What regrets do you have? What memories, when triggered, haunt you? Give the burdens of yesteryear up to God and allow His cleansing power to wash you clean. Look to Him for comfort, rest, and hope.
Dear Jesus, thank You for taking my burdens upon You and exchanging them for peace and rest. Thank You for your comfort and healing power. Amen.
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Text and photograph copyright © 2018 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of sunset at La Jolla, San Diego, California.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
On a trip to my hometown, I drove down memory lane. Passing schools where I attended, stores where I had shopped, restaurants where I had dined, plus all too familiar streets and houses unleashed memory after memory as I drove around town. I wish I could say these were all good memories. None were horrible, but many left me wondering why my mind diverted down these forgotten paths to places unbidden, leaving me feeling less than nostalgic and more introspective.
Letting these memories wash over me like waves on a lonely seashore in some ways felt cathartic and therapeutic. As I named these memories for simply being just memories, they began to lose their power over me. Lifting these burdens up to God, I allowed the waves to rinse me clean of yesteryear as these thoughts receded into the depths of the sea in my mind’s eye.
What is this tremendous pull the past has on me? Like the lunar tug on the sea creating wave after wave, the past tugs on my mind and heart. Sometimes, the past comes back to haunt me in the form of regret and sadness, tinged with hopelessness and mingled with a sense of emptiness, washing up on the beaches of my soul, day after day, year after year.
How can I shake off this grip from the past? As I continued driving, I found myself involuntarily shaking my head. Perhaps not hard enough to dislodge the phantoms of the past permanently, but it was enough to clear my brain so I could thank God for my present and to have hope for the future.
Thankfulness creates a sense of joy, a blanket of contentment under which I can crawl when I have allowed my mind to creep back to the past. Being thankful covers the emptiness, the sadness, with a healing balm, soothing the corners of my mind and smoothing out all in between, with God’s peace and presence.
Where do you go into the past? Is your trip backward disturbing or healing? Do you let the memories of yesterday wash over you for cleansing or do these waves crash on the beach of your mind, jarring you into time you thought you had forgotten?
I love the fact that God isn’t bound by time. He is simultaneously in our past, present, and future. When we turn to him in our present with the load of the past on our backs, He gently lifts our burdens, nailing them to the cross. In the present, we can experience the gift of Himself, full of comfort and healing, true rest for the weary soul. As He leads us forward, we are free from our past, free to be who He created us to be, with a hope and a future.
What regrets do you have? What memories, when triggered, haunt you? Give the burdens of yesteryear up to God and allow His cleansing power to wash you clean. Look to Him for comfort, rest, and hope.
Dear Jesus, thank You for taking my burdens upon You and exchanging them for peace and rest. Thank You for your comfort and healing power. Amen.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Text and photograph copyright © 2018 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of sunset at La Jolla, San Diego, California.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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