Wednesday, April 16, 2008

You Are What You've Been Becoming

"For that which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been..."(Ecclesiastes 3:15)

This verse in Ecclesiastes reminds me of something I've heard my husband say many times: “You are what you've been becoming." What you are today as a woman, and where you are in your Christian life, did not happen over night. There were many things that went into making you into the person you are. Some of them you had no control over, but the majority of them came from conscious choices you made. You may have thought some of them were insignificant at the time, but, as you look back today, I’m sure you can see just how significant they were.

Whatever your regrets (or non-regrets) today, it would be of little use to obsess over them. In fact, to do so, would only serve to exacerbate the problem. Instead, we should realize that just as choices and actions of our youth produced much of the circumstances of our lives today, what you do now will decide who and what we will be in middle age and beyond. We should be making judgments, not just for today, but for the future as well. One does not automatically become wise at forty-five or magically turn sweet at seventy-five. We all know middle-aged women who are still making the dumb mistakes they made when they were young; and who of us would want to end up like some of the bitter, cranky, old ladies we've known.

You are determining today what you will be tomorrow. Take a quick look back over your shoulder; ask God to show you where you really are today; then begin working on becoming the woman you want to be when you stand before Him.

"When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die."
— Jim Elliot

No comments:

Post a Comment