Well, here we are. T-minus 4.5 hours and counting… also minus however long it takes me to write this. We are almost done with 2020. And you know, everyone talks about “new year, new you”, but we all know that’s not really how the clock works, is it?

Time doesn’t pause for us to put this filled journal on the shelf and grab an empty one to write in. As a matter of fact, sometimes life doesn’t even slow enough for us to prepare by buying a new journal. Don’t get me wrong. This is a good time for self-evaluation. There is something to putting dates on intentional changes. But my point is, midnight is coming whether I have a 2021 calendar ready to go or not. Time waits for no man as they say.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the memes that reference how for the first time ever hindsight really will be 2020. But maybe after this completely unpredictable year, that’s where I want to challenge you. Is there a time to look back and evaluate the past? Absolutely. Do we have lots of material that we need to have learned from and continue to learn from this year? Very much yes… but what if we lessened our focus on hindsight?

“But wait a minute, you just said that we need to learn from it!”

Yep, I sure did. Just like I need to learn from the moments in my life that have been less than stellar. And over time I may learn new lessons from them. But I will do a grave disservice to myself, to my kids, to my family, to my Church, and to anyone else with whom I come into contact if my focus never shifts from trying to learn from the past… from hindsight, if you will.

We all can list reasons why this past year has sucked more than an anteater trying to get a bacon-wrapped, chocolate-dipped ant that’s running for its life. But if we do not start shifting our focus from HOW it’s sucked to ways to prevent such suckage in the future, then we will have learned absolutely nothing.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the trajectory of my life long-term, and it’s taken me back to my high school and college years. I’ve been contemplating what all moves played into where I am now. As much as I am in love with my life, I know that I still want more. I cannot focus on the ways I want more, look back on my misses over a decade ago, and shove my face into a vat of brownie batter.

That version of hindsight is completely useless. Absolutely, completely useless.

What should I do? Make a list of my misses. Look for parallels in my today. Consider what triggers could result in those same misses happening again. And THEN, listen now… and then decide ahead of time what I will do instead.

If we don’t know what we’re going to be stubborn about, then we will inevitably end up stubborn about the wrong things. If looking back is going to be worth any amount of our time, it HAS to happen in a way that will help us establish the future and the life that we are being called to.

Hindsight can be beneficial. But that doesn’t seem to be what my social media feed is filled with… so my challenge is:

If you need to look back, do it, but do it wisely and with a purpose. If you want to digest what’s happened in your life over the past year, do it, but do it with the mentality that you’re also looking for triggers to watch out for in the future. We need to learn from the past, and it will generally be what propels us towards our future. But we won’t see any different tomorrow with the way we often find ourselves focusing on it now. I don’t know about you, but I’m not seeing how we can affect change with the way things are going.

But maybe…

Maybe we can begin to affect change by unclenching our balled fists.

Maybe we can begin to affect change by lowering our voices.

Maybe we can begin to affect change by removing the ear plugs.

Maybe we can begin to affect change by opening our eyes.

Whatever is going on in your life, whether big or small, whether it is media related or known only to you, and while I know that it is beyond what I can probably comprehend, it doesn’t have to have complete say in everything. Look at it, learn from it, use it… but be on guard against this modern version of hindsight that says it defines you. Only you get to decide what defines you. And if it’s not something that you’re proud of, then know that you’re worth more than to settle for that definition.

Choose to look forward this coming year. Choose to evaluate your path, our path. Choose to speak into what could be. Choose to take one step at a time. Choose to promote unity.

And if all you can see right now is the next 30 minutes because life is so bleak, be good to you somehow during that time. You’re worth it. Always.