Three paths converged in the woods.
My Past. My Present. My Future.
The Past, in its desire to protect me, wanted to be loudest. It wanted control. It wanted command over my present. And it wanted to dictate the direction of my future.
For most of my life, the Past has won. Its treacherous course and deep, dark turns warning me of an uncertain future and a present that must be overly protected at all costs. The Past, you see, was not happy staying in its rightful place as the past. It desired to be the interpreter of the present and the harbinger of the future.
Convinced its experiences were all there was to be known of my story, it hounded the Present and the Future to take its lessons to heart and simply repeat its course in order to survive.
Realize the Past did not intentionally intend to be dictator.
It started out wild and free and hopeful. The Past was a boy's heart full of adventure and dreams. But other's paths had crossed it in some dark valleys, making it lost and scared. The Past had many nights of tears. It experienced things that no one's past should ever have to endure.
This turned the hopeful Past into a fearful thing. This fear demanded to be a part of the present and the future. And it was allowed.
But one day the Past, the Present and the Future converged in a sunlit valley of a remote mountain. The Past, fearful as it was, could not shake the invasion of the Present. The beauty of the valley, its gentle breeze, its warm sunlight kissing the golden leaves as they rustled in the autumn majesty. The Future echoed with the sound of an eagle as it soared high overhead, winging its free path up and over the jagged peaks. Inviting me to join it on uncharted adventures.
Here, in this Present moment, Future’s haunting call hung between its two fathers. And here, in this Present moment, stood time’s author, Jesus.
Like the man on the mat He had healed so many years ago, He once again required a decision. Would the Future - my Future - be me forever crippled on the mat. Forever tied to my Past. Letting it be an anchor forever chaining me to what has been. Or would I roll up my Past, take His hand in the Present, then stand up and walk into a brand new Future.
On this day, in a sunlit valley on a remote mountain three paths converged.
My Past. My Present. And my Future.
On this day, in this present moment, I took the timeless hand of Jesus Christ. I handed Him the tattered, stained and well-worn rolled up past which I had held so dear and spread my wings for my first flight into a brand new destiny.