Looking Forward

There’s a show called “Kitchen Nightmares” with famous chef Gordon Ramsay. One of the episodes featured a husband-and-wife restaurant team where both owners were well over the age of retirement. Even though they had a huge staff, the husband insisted on planting himself in the kitchen in front of the stove. As Gordon Ramsay gave the restaurant a facelift and retrained the kitchen and wait staff he instructed the “owner cook” to get out of the kitchen. All was going fantastically well with the owner out from behind the stove, and then…. This owner snuck back into the kitchen and planted himself once again in front of the stove. Gordon found him, removed his apron, and then sat him down to enjoy dinner with his wife, adding, “You’ve earned this, enjoy it.”

“You’ve earned this, enjoy it.”

I was thinking to myself, “How could this guy go back into that kitchen”? In my mind it seemed foolish and then it hit me…

That’s exactly what I do every time I look back on “what was” and “what God did then” and “what I miss about before.”

I was guilty of just the same thing as this “foolish” restaurant owner.

His new season was to sit back, relax a bit more, and enjoy the fruits of all his hard work. And more importantly, to enjoy time with his wife who still after many years of him overworking loved him very much.

How many times do we not embrace our new season because we are looking back on the old one?

Let’s not forget Lot’s wife in Genesis looking back with dire consequences…

“But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she became a pillar of salt.”

– Genesis 19:26 (AMP)

We may not be turned into a pillar of salt, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have dire consequences from continually looking back. Our costs might seem minimal but allowing regret or angst or the “feeling of missing out” creep in can indeed cause us unwanted results.

The apostle Paul implores us in Philippians to remain steadfast to our calling in Christ Jesus…

“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  

– Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB)

Are you looking back, my friend? Maybe God is telling you to embrace your new season and trust Him with the rest. Perhaps it’s time to sit back, trust, enjoy the fruits of your past, and enjoy the loved ones around you.

“You’ve earned this, enjoy it.”

It’s time to look forward and embrace what God has for you. While driving if one is too focused on what’s behind, moving forward will be impaired.

Move forward with full force, and don’t allow looking back to hinder what God has before you, and right in front of you.

For God says…

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

– Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)

Thanks for visiting LuSays. Want to win in your relationships? Check out books by Lucille Williams: On marriage, From Me to We, and The Intimacy You Crave. Have kids? Order a copy of The Impossible Kid: Parenting a Strong-Willed Child with Love and Grace or Turtle Finds His Talent for ages 2-6. Subscribe to LuSays today for weekly encouragement.