The Gift of Retrospection

Some of the most important things in life are only understood in retrospect. It is only when we look back and reflect — our eyes finally open and see the past reality for what they really were.

Milan Kundera, the author of Laughable Loves once wrote:

We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.

Retrospection, in one sense, is an intentional eye-opening experience.

This happened to me today. I had the chance to look back to see the past for what they really were.

It turns out, what I had interpreted as a threat in the past, wasn’t really a threat at all. Instead, they were opportunities for me to grow and cultivate a bigger and wider embrace.

The people I perceived to be enemies, weren’t enemies at all. They were simply people who needed my loving embrace.

And the most anxiety-ridden moments weren’t moments to be anxious, but moments to trust and boldly move with confidence.

Also, the times when I fearlessly and valiantly plowed through with confidence were times when I needed discretion and a spirit of humility.

My eyes began to open with wonder and amazement at how quickly I’d lose the big picture and forget that the people were (and are) the most valuable asset in life and ministry.

All this . . . in retrospect.

And only . . . in retrospect.

Albert Einstein once said:

The thinking that got us to where we are is not the thinking that will get us to where we want to be.

We’re all where we are because of our thought-pattern and the corresponding choices. And as Einstein put it, this isn’t the thinking that will get us to where we’d love to be.

And one of the things that shifts our paradigm and changes our thought-pattern (and therefore our choices) is the gift of retrospect.

The gift of retrospect.

We need to utilize this gift every chance we get. It’s imperative that we understand the past for what they really were. So, that we may think and walk onward to where we’d love to be by its power.

One of my all time favorite proverb in the Bible is found in Proverbs 27:19.

And it says:

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.

Our life is a reflection . . . a reflection of our heart.

And our heart is a reflection of our thoughts.

And our thoughts (that alter life-direction) are the fruit of retrospection.

And with proper retrospection comes passionate anticipation for the future.