Flash Forward

Yesterday in church, a sweet lady in her golden years hugged my neck and said, "See yourself at my age - just imagine what level you will be."  I was taken back.  I had never thought to stand in my "senior shoes" and look in the mirror.  She was paying me a complement.  I had just prayed for someone, and she was telling me to see the vision of who I might become and the freedom and wisdom I would truly walk in...just if I continued on the path of fervor after the Lord's heart.  Wow!  What a challenge to be told to look at life in a 'flash-forward' stance. 

Our campus pastor at my university would often tell us to look at decisions we might make with the perspective of 'hindsight in foresight position' - I have never forgotten those words and have applied them so very often.  I was saying this quote of Pastor Shuler to someone recently, and they said, "What exactly does that mean anyway? I hear you say it often."  I explained the above, and they too began to apply that stance to their circumstances.  But...to have the 'flash forward' stance of decades away - I do not know if I have ever done that. 

I have said to my husband before, that I willl be sitting in my rocker on the front porch playing electric guitar.  Saying, if it even takes me till I am 80, I will do that!  I said that so much that he and the kids bought me a beautiful, red, wood-grained Ibanez electric and wonderful, Peavey amplifier for Mother's Day a few years ago.  I had played acoustic from the time I was twelve, but I had put it down in college and played very little afterwards.  My dream to be able to play the electric had been there since I was eleven, and my father (who despised the sound of electric guitars) had said he would buy me one if I learned acoustic first.  I so enjoyed the acoustic that I had put the electric back as an unneeded dream.  However, the desire never left my heart.  On that Mother's Day mentioned above, my family was telling me, "Why wait any longer?"  So...I am learning.  In order for me to 'really rock-it' on the front porch, it will take persistence and practice. 

There are other areas that linger in my heart...desires that I have only tread water.  Will I regret if I do not learn to swim in these?  Better yet, Miss Shirley was telling me see the GOOD GIFTS God has given me and see them all grown up and matured.  I think I will look in the mirror today and see beyond the skin and look years ahead.  What will I see?  Something tells me that I will see a confident woman, with her confidence in Christ - using all that she has for the glory of God, enjoying every moment to its fullest.  She will be listening ever intently to the Voice of God while she parents, plays guitar, writes, gardens, dances, and sings.  She will use her voice to encourage others in His truths.  Today, I will put one foot in front of the other in that direction. 

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." (Psalm 34:8 KJV)
Are you willing to look in the mirror in a 'flash-forward' stance today?  What will you see?