Moving Forward
- Posted on May 17, 2009
Moving Forward
When we are trying to find meaning as we move forward from one day to the next, we often spend a good deal of energy in the past. We think of decisions that we wish we had made differently or with more forethought. I’m sure the disciples had a good deal of these kind of thoughts after Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is a great song in Jesus Christ Superstar entitled “Could We Start Again Please?” That song could be a mantra for many of us.
For years, when asked about my college experience, I would start off by saying that I attended Davidson College. If the conversation continued, I would then add that my first choice of college had been Williams College. Then I would launch into a discussion about how I had applied to Williams early decision and had not been accepted. I then added that I hadn’t taken the application seriously, that I had written it in longhand in cartridge pen. Yada..Yada..Yada.. On and on I would go about how I had made mistakes in my application. I would wonder what my life would have been like if I’d been a college student in the northeast.
Not long into the conversation, my good husband would interject that I would never have met him if I had gone to another college. For a while, I would try to argue that I would have met him eventually. After a while, I gave up that line of argument. My experience at Davidson was a wonderful experience in many ways. Why did I spend a good ten years of my life unable to recognize this fact? Why focus on the road not taken?
This morning, I started the sermon with a poem by Carl Dennis called “The God Who Loves You.” The poem is in his collection called Practical Gods. I won’t quote the whole poem here but here are some pertinent lines: