Lessons From My Dad: Don't Drive Looking In The Rearview Mirror

How many of you have ever hopped into the car to go on a journey and looked only in the rearview mirror to get where you are going? Of course you haven’t! You wouldn’t make it more than 5 feet before running off the road. My dad knew this truth and taught me this lesson from a very young age: Don’t drive your life’s car looking into the rearview mirror. I alluded to this last week when we talked about the significance not of how you drive, but how you arrive. This principle is so important and if not learned, it can keep you from reaching your final destination. If you spend your life looking in the rearview mirror, you will most certainly crash. It is not just a distraction. It is actually dangerous and stupid. Dad always told me to look in your rearview mirror occasionally to learn from your mistakes. But your eyes should stay focused on the horizon. Look through the windshield. See the view around you. You’ll realize how beautiful it really is. When you finally reach your destination, you will have enjoyed life to the full. Don’t miss the moments right in front of you because you insist on gazing into the bleakness of the past through a tiny rearview mirror. God says we should gaze at Jesus. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we gaze at him, we will change and be able to move forward with hope!