Benefits of the Past

We are always told not to dwell on the past. There are even Bible passages that tell us that even God forgets our past. Psalm 103 states that as far as the east is from the west, so has the Lord removed our transgressions. But, why can't we benefit from the past? I am not saying that we continuously turn and dwell on our past mistakes and negative experiences, but I think that these things can be beneficial to our growth. How can we grow and learn from experiences if we do not reflect on them? If we do not reflect on them or process them, we may not see the things that we need to work on. It is one thing to realize that we have sinned or that we have messed up, but I think that there are sometimes more underlying issues behind things that need to be looked at. Why ignore the past if those underlying things are going to be things that help us to grow? Of course, there may be pain involved and it may be an experience that we don't want to work through, but the outcome could be beneficial. I think we face trouble when we find ourselves dwelling on the negative things of the past and the things that we did wrong. We can move on once we are able to learn from the experience. And, learning experiences are a process. Sometimes we may reflect back on something from 10 years before and be able to learn from the experience. Today, I am going to embrace the past as a learning experience rather than choosing to run and hide from it.