YESTERDAY
Yesterday… We all have them in common. Yesterday is tough, but honest, it doesn’t lie… Only we’re capable of lying about our days – the days themselves are perfect in their honesty… and that’s as far as the perfection goes. The funny thing about yesterdays is that they’re different than most things we receive in quantity during our lives.
Usually when we have plenty of something we take it for granted – not so with our days or yesterdays. The more days we get the more precious they become, especially when we add good health into the mix.
There’s more to a day than the hours and minutes that add up to 24 hours. There’s more than the sunrise and the sunset, each day we’re given the gift of free will from God that allows us to make choices every day. The choices made during our days stack up and define our yesterdays, all the yesterdays collectively define the people we are and the legacy we leave behind.
It’s a bittersweet emotion that overcomes most of us as we ponder our yesterdays. I’m humbled as I consider mine. I have fond memories of a life full of love from others… Of all the wrong choices made, there was always unconditional love. There was structure and discipline that I challenged all the way.
One of the things we carry, sometimes to excess, is regret. The wild untamed heart, the reckless attitude and action, the pain I’ve inflicted on others while I rolled through my days as if they were only my possessions, is what grieves me the most. That’s the problem with the wrong choices we make using our free will while we burn through our days as if we’d never run out.
The love of self and the desires that accompany it are what fills the memories of yesterday with regret. In time, we often realize that the yesterday’s sought for our own gratification leave hollow memories. It is that revelation from God that opens our hearts and minds to what He calls wisdom.
Each yesterday that can be recalled as love and compassion for others in heart and deed become the yesterdays that bring peace, joy, and a smile to our face. A life lived only for the satisfaction of self will bring us to an empty life and a hollow yesterday.
The yesterday’s filled with self-sacrifice are the memories that fuel a bright and fulfilling tomorrow. The best thing about yesterday is that we have today to build upon so that we might look back in time to remember and cherish yesterday as we look forward to another tomorrow.
Lisa notes
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 8:47 am
“Yesterday is tough, but honest, it doesn’t lie…
“The best thing about yesterday is that we have today to build upon so that we might look back in time to remember and cherish yesterday as we look forward to another tomorrow.”
Great insights, Floyd. Time is something I can never quite wrap my mind around, so instead I wrestle with it all the time. I need to just make peace with it and accept it for what it is. Live well within it, the one day that I have, today.
Floyd
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 8:52 am
Thanks Lisa. I think we all wrestle with time because we know it’s not the same in the other dimension that we will one day be living in. Just a theory… “The one day that I have, today”… Well said.
tcavey
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 9:27 am
Deep post Floyd!
It brought to mind a poem I used to read hanging next to our front door as I waited for the school bus, it started by saying,
“This is the beginning of a new day
What you do with this day is important
because you have exchanged one day of your life for it.
When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever.”
Those words have stuck with me over the years.
Floyd
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 11:03 am
What a great poem to see and be reminded of on a regular basis. Those are good words to stick with you for sure. I’ll hang on to them too. Thanks TC.
Jay Cookingham
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 11:36 am
I use to live in the land of regret…not a nice place to reside if you know what I mean? I guess that is why we have a Redeemer…who makes ALL things new! Bless ya bro’!
Floyd
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 12:45 pm
Thanks Jay… and Amen. Bless you too. The “Bear” thing was a complete crack up!
Jay Cookingham
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 10:08 am
Yeah, I think a little “different” than most folks!
Floyd
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 3:20 pm
Yes you do! I find it amusing and fun! I appreciate the fact that you can have fun and be humorous and yet be very serious and wise when it’s time.
Effie-Alean Gross
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 6:31 pm
Ah, Floyd, you are waxing philosophical! Good thoughts. Some of us have more yesterdays than tomorrows. I don’t have a lot of regrets, but I do have a few. I wish I’d had a dozen children (that was what my dad wanted, too. He stopped at five.)I was pretty selfish when I was younger. I gave birth to two children and adopted one. I try not to focus on the dark yesterdays; so many yesterdays are filled with the goodness of God…joy. Thanks for making us think about the important things in life.
Floyd
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 8:25 am
Thanks Effie. I almost didn’t post this one. I thought it was lacking a bit… then again what do I know? I know for sure we all have regrets, but in that process there is wisdom when searching for the truth of God. I wanted more kids too…
Hazel Moon
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 6:54 pm
Yesterday is gone, today is here, and tomorrow will be our today soon! I do have some regrets and can only cast them at the feet of Jesus. I obeyed and followed my husband’s choices because he was and is the decision maker in our home. I forgave him but there are times the memory of those incidents surface and I must forgive all over again. He realizes it too, but there is no going back and correcting yesterday. We must live today and walk uprightly before the Lord using our free will to make personal choices. There are some choices that are not ours to make, so we choose to live with those regardless.
When your body changes on you – there isn’t a whole lot you can do except follow the Doctor’s advice. When your finances change abruptly there is not a lot you can do about that except trust the Lord to provide. Some choices are not ours. Those we do have, we must use our choices wisely.
Floyd
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 8:29 am
Those are amazingly wise and powerful words Hazel. They could literally be used as a summary for the next generation to follow. Like your husband, I’ve made mistakes. Some of my business choices put my wife and kids in trying circumstances, but in the end, all we can do is follow the outline you’ve laid out here. Thanks for the amazing summary.
Betty Draper
Friday, June 22, 2012 @ 9:43 pm
Brother you opened a well of wisdom from those who replied. I have been back three times to re-read what you and they wrote. Hazel, I could just hug for she has captured my heart with her reply: Some choices are not ours…I may have to blog on that one…again…great post.
Floyd
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 8:32 am
Thanks Betty. I’m blown away by the wisdom of God’s children. I have to say I get so much from the input of others, it’s a growing opportunity and lifting experience. I can’t tell you what a lift your comments are to me and others as well. Thanks again.
Dan Black
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 11:08 am
Great reminder.
So many times we can be held up on the past that we lose focus of today or future. God calls us to forget the past mistakes and regrets and to live for today. To be engaged and focused on the present.
Floyd
Saturday, June 23, 2012 @ 3:25 pm
Thanks Dan. We all make mistakes, but I think remembering them helps bring wisdom. He certainly allows different paths to Him through grace.
Nancy
Sunday, June 24, 2012 @ 8:10 am
Hey Floyd…I have been away from posting for a bit. So nice to be reminded of that which is truly precious!
“Only one life
“twill soon be past
Only what’s done for Christ
Will last!”
By Helen Steiner Rive
Additionally, I am so thankful for the verse that talks about forgetting those things which are behind and Paul says he presses to the things ahead. My past doesn’t have to drag me down. There is a balance.
You are so right about yesterdays giving us foundational wisdom! So glad His mercies are renewed every morning! Thanks for a great way to start my day!
Floyd
Sunday, June 24, 2012 @ 11:38 am
Thanks Nancy. “There is a balance,” well said. I know you’ve been busy, but it’s great to hear from you again. I and I know for sure others are encouraged by your words and spirit!
Hazel Moon
Monday, June 25, 2012 @ 4:20 pm
Thanks for sharing this post at Tell Me a True Story at:
http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/
Floyd
Monday, June 25, 2012 @ 5:28 pm
Thanks for having me Hazel!
Diane
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 @ 4:31 am
Beautiful and deep, Floyd. I kind of wrote – kind of – on the same thing this morning. I’m so glad you have had such wonderful yesterdays.
Floyd
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 @ 6:55 am
The best yesterdays are the ones where I was striving in Him to live my life for Him. The earlier yesterdays were not pretty. You described it well today at your site. Thanks Diane… it takes one to know one…
Diane
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 @ 12:52 pm
Amen! You sparked a new post in me. I’ve been working on it. Thanks, Floyd!
Floyd
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 @ 8:43 pm
I’m humbled and honored! And I can’t wait to read it!
Joanne Norton
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 @ 7:07 pm
To be honest, I do struggle with some of the “yesterdays”, even though the sinfulness or evil thinking/acting were prior to my salvation. I also think of the tomorrows as a Christian when I should have done better, listened to the Lord, focused on Him and not let other life situations hit the top. I know I’m forgiven, and I know I’m continually growing in Him and will be until I’m in heaven [and it may even continue there, but without garbage to battle, for which I’m a grateful lady!]. But, as I said at the beginning of this comment, I do sometimes struggle.
Your thinking was straight and helpful. Thanks.
Floyd
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 @ 8:49 pm
Thanks Joanne… Our thinking is close if not identical. But how do we come up with wisdom without pondering the paths of our lives? I too am looking forward to living without the “garbage” as well. Thanks for the honesty, it is beneficial to all of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
mary McLeary
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 6:55 am
“Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” But if I could regift some yesterdays, I surely would! You wrote a beautiful post, and as I read it and the responses, I realized I’m in good company when it comes to having regrets and He desires us to look toward Him and not backward to our yesterdays. Thanks!
Floyd
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 7:06 am
Thanks Mary. I know we all have regrets and are to look forward in forgiveness, but the regrets fuel wisdom I think. I too am glad to be in such good company.
Hazel Moon
Monday, April 6, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
Thank you for allowing this older post to be seen again at Tell me a Story.
Joanne Norton
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 @ 6:37 pm
“Yesterdays” fill my memory, fill my heart. It’s all I can count on as I look forward, actually. Remember so many people, so many places, so many times the Lord has broken through horrific pieces. As usual, you grabbed many hearts and lots of love. Bless you, Brother…and I would so much like to know you in our present world, but might in the eternal “world”. Heaven sounds like a really good thing, every moment of every day. Again, bless you. 😉