“Your past is important, but as important as it is, it is not nearly as important to your present as the way you see your future.”

Dr. Tony Campolo

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the anticipation, excitement and mystery of moving into the unknown future.

If I read any comic strips, there are three that will get my quick attention. One is BC. I love the one with a cave man standing in front of a rock labeled “Exchanges.” He complained to the person in charge of exchanges, “My calendar watch won’t budge.”

The other man replied, “I don’t wonder. I’m not too choked up about moving into the next year myself.”

The end of one year and the dawning of a new year can be a daunting thought for some people. For others, it provides an excellent opportunity to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start. Last year has no life. Next year is filled with life infused possibilities.

Remember the television series, The West Wing? Fictional president Josiah Bartlet regularly ended staff meetings with two words – “What’s next?”

This was his way of signaling that he was finished with the issue at hand and ready to move on to other concerns. The demands and pressures of the White House required that he not focus on what was in the rearview mirror -- he needed to concentrate on the “what next” priorities.

What’s next? The kind of future we see next week, next month or next year will shape how we live today. Sometimes the struggle to move into the future is because people are paralyzed by the past. The more time you spend looking backward, the less capable you will be of seeing ahead. It’s not possible to think clearly about the future (which is where you are going to live) if you’re obsessed with the past. As Ivern Ball advised, “The past should be a springboard, not a hammock.” Look at the past as just basic training for your future.

Choose to be forward-focused, not past-obsessed. No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future. No matter what last year produced, the New Year is awaiting your arrival. What you invest into the next 365 days will determine, in large part, what those days give back to you. It is valuable to learn from past experiences, focus on the present and prepare yourself to move confidently into the future.

Here are a couple thoughts to ponder for the New Year. . .

1. You cannot erase the past but you can write the future.
2. The more you carry the past around, the less likely it is the present will improve.
3. If you truly ‘live’ in the present, you’ll build a road to the future.
4. You either create the future you want or endure the future you are given.

The well known preacher Henry Ward Beecher said: “We have passed through one more year. One more long stage in the journey of life, with its ascents and descents and dust and mud and rocks and thorns and burdens that wear the shoulders, is done. The old year is dead. Roll it away. Let it go. God, in His providence, has brought us out of it. It is gone; . . . its evil is gone; its good remains. The evil has perished, and the good survives.”

So. . . what’s next?

“If there is faith in the future, there is power in the present.”

John Maxwell