Moving Forward | Putting the Past in Its Place

December 29, 2025

Several words come to mind as we approach the rise of another new year: resolutions, change, new, different, and better. Who invited 2026 to come so soon, and why did 2025 get whisked away so quickly? The older I get, the more time seems to move at a faster clip.

While I’m not really one to make New Year’s resolutions, I do enjoy reflecting on a past year and thinking ahead to a new year and its remarkable potential.

Many changes are coming for our family this year as we welcome a new little one into our home in March. Everything from sibling dynamics to sleeping arrangements and schedules to mom’s attention will ripple out from the arrival of one oh-so-small.

As I also creep towards a birthday number that I’d rather not think about, I get somewhat reflective, and in my darker moments, I get somewhat pensive about my life as a whole. Regrets and missed opportunities knock rather loudly in my soul, and if I let them linger, my thoughts spiral downward. Thoughts such as

if only I had listened to the Lord more carefully…

if only I had started my business sooner…

if only I had worked harder…

if only I had a heart for motherhood sooner…

can fill my heart and disturb my focus if I allow them. Yet as my husband so often and so simply reminds me, “Ashley, we cannot go back into the past and change it.” Simple yet profound. Easy yet so hard to acknowledge at times.

I don’t think there’s an honest, self-reflecting person alive today who doesn’t have some amount of regret or desire to change choices in the past. No one is perfect, and if we are honest with ourselves, we can always think of better choices that we could have made.

The past is a double-sided coin. The past is a wonderful part of our lives—it defines us and tells our stories. Yet if we allow the negative parts of our past to envelop us, it can absorb our lives to such a degree that we are paralyzed and defeated.

So how we do handle the past?

A few verses from scripture have grounded me and helped me grapple with my past and move forward in a positive way:

 

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Acknowledge the past, but don’t get stuck there. Try to learn from the past but don’t wallow in it. Like a bird skimming across the water, it’s okay to touch down on the past, but soar above it and move forward.

Praise God for the positive in your past, both things that you have accomplished and things that were done for you. Yet, don’t linger too long--even in the positive. Lingering too long can lead to pride and a blindness to today and its blessings and work.

Though I cannot reach back into my past and change certain choices, I am by God’s grace trying to live fully right where I’m at. Here are three simple thoughts that I am personally focusing on to redeem the time and make up for some failures:

1. The things that I wished I had done, try to do them if I am still able. If not, move on to whatever else God has for me.

   
   

2. I am never too old to learn something. I am never too old to better myself and the lives of those around me.

   
   

3. Diligently teach the next generation that they might learn from my mistakes.

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Friends, no matter what happened in your past, if God gives you life and breath today and the next you have a beautiful opportunity before you. By putting the past into its proper perspective, you can keep moving forward with dignity. Don’t be discouraged, but move forward in grace, joy, and diligence!

-Ashley

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