Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I want to encourage all who read this, don’t quit, don’t stop, and don’t look to past failures and mistakes. God has not called us to walk forward while looking backwards, if you do this you will only end up falling into a pit of despair. We have all had our share of mistakes; we just can’t focus on them. Let me give you an example. As a young man in grade school and high school, I loved to draw and even do some painting on canvas. I wasn’t great but I was good enough to keep pursuing the gift. Somehow life became busy after high school and I ended up no longer painting or drawing. 

Just recently I decided to try my hand at painting again. I started by doing some abstract art and my family seemed to like it enough to argue over who was getting the next painting. After about five or six paintings I decided to try some still life nature scenes. The first one surprised me on how well it came out but I have still not finished it. About that time I came across some teaching materials on how to paint with oil paint. After watching the video two or three times I decided to try my hand at the techniques presented on the video. I was floored with the results. Even though the painting wasn’t perfect, I had to admit that it did look good. Let me tie this all together for you. I watched the video a few more times and then attempted another painting. Throughout the time painting this next painting I ran into mistake after mistake. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to finish it, that’s how many mistakes I saw while painting. Surprise, surprise, I did finish and I do believe it is my best work so far.

 Life gives us plenty of mistakes to look at close up and if we focus on them we may never get past them. My suggestion is this step back and look at the big picture. This is what I did with the painting and when I did the mistakes began to not be so obvious and at many points even disappeared. When my family saw the paint I am sure they found it hard to believe that I painted it.

 The lesson here is to keep your face looking forward when at the plough of life. You can’t make a straight row now if you’re focusing on the crooked row in the past.

 Luke 9:62 (NIV)

⁶²And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

P. S. Can you find the mistakes?

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This is the start to a new season. We all go through many seasons in our lives and in those seasons are lessons to be learned. Each lesson should be taken one step at a time, so take time to learn the lesson you are in before you move on to the next lesson. This process makes the seasons more affective and much more enjoyable.

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