A variety of quips abound about how we reconcile our past and over-analyze our future including:

* Don’t borrow your sorrows from tomorrow

* If you spend most of your time dwelling on the past you’ll find yourself depressed, and overthinking on your days to come lends itself to anxiety.

* It’s better to stay focused on the future than the past. That’s why the rear-view mirror is so small and the windshield is so large.

* If you don’t understand your history then you’re doomed to repeat it.

Recently I read a work entitled “Invitation to a Lifetime Gift” written by Father Donald Haggerty. It began “An invitation ordinarily can be declined…..Yet it does happen that an invitation, on first sight unremarkable, easily capable of being refused, with a polite excuse, hides a significant turn in the direction of a life if it is accepted” He went on to describe an invitation he accepted to volunteer at a men’s shelter which changed his life forever. ⁽¹⁾

Truly, nearly everyone can look back at a time in their life when they looked a decision in the eye and asked to themself “Do I see this for what it really is. Do I see the better or best choice available?” As a very young man I had been dating a woman and I hadn’t yet gathered myself as to whether or not I was ready to commit to a long-term relationship. I know she was committed. And indeed, I did love this woman, but this is the first woman I ever dated. So many questions were going on in my head; “Is there more of life out there for me to experience, am I ready to spend the rest of my life with her, what will that look like?” and “If I do move forward on this, will I be capable for the responsibilities that will be placed on me?” and on and on. I was certainly leaning less on my heart and more on my mind. I had anxieties about what my future would look like. I was guessing I might possibly enjoy more time for myself outside of a long-term relationship than a lifetime with her. Was I seeking a life that, at least for the time being, would be entirely on my terms alone?

Then one day I was riding in the car with my older brother, and we were talking about all that I was debating in my head. He told me that I had to get my head around the things that really matter. He literally said “She loves you. She just about worships the ground you walk on. You’d be a fool to walk away from her.” In essence, he said “Go with it, you idiot!” It was then that I decided I’d spend the rest of my life with her. Any other choice surrounding this gift offering would have certainly led me down a very different path. Here now, 47 years later, I thank God daily for my wonderful life and for my wonderful wife!

And of course, during this season of Lent, we’re reminded of the grandest expression of love ever to all mankind, a gift in and of itself. It took place when our God sent his only son down from heaven to live among us. So many people understood him to be their Messiah, Savior, and deliverer. Yet, not everyone was ready for that level of commitment. Maybe because there was so much to unpack about him in the short time he was here. The son of a carpenter, really? How does he understand so much about God and Scripture at such a young age? Is he the one to lead us forward? They even asked “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven?’ ” (John 6:42). This didn’t fit what many thought their Savior would do including He would free them from their current situation by eliminating the domination of the Roman Empire. But that was not going to be his modus operandi. From the outset his message was love, forgiveness and the offering of eternal salvation for all. Again, Love trumps all. A wonderful sentiment on love was provided today: ” This love is not weakness. It is power born of the Cross. You don’t need to feel love to start acting with it.” ⁽²⁾ Really, why hesitate at all to share the best gift you have to give. Your love to another.

Finally, going back full circle to scripture, I think it truly is essential that we take things given to us for exactly what they are; a gift! Indeed, What do we have that we did not receive? And if we received it, why do we boast as if it were not a gift? ⁽³⁾

References

1. The Magnificat Lenten Companion. 2026. Febuary 18-April 5. p15
2. Growing in Grace. Lenten Reflections from the Wisdom of the Saints by All Saints Press p.8
3. 1 Corinthians 4:7 NRSV