I have a friend who can recall every hunting trip we have been on and the details of each animal taken. He rehearses the stories often and we relive the events when we meet. That is not a bad thing, but when we rehearse sad stories or negative and depressing ones, we too can become experts in the details, and relive the events.

Doing postmortems on gripes and past losses can have a strong negative effect on plans for the future. It is important that we learn the correct way and time to bury the past so that we can live in the present and future. Amazing things happen when you put constructive thoughts to work. Learning from past mistakes is good, but after one postmortem, there needs to be a burial. Postmortems are not conducted over and over again on the same subject.

None of us have a history we wish would never have happened as the one the apostle Paul had. The memories of his terrible persecution against the Church never left his mind, but he learned to lock them in a compartment and leave them behind. Otherwise, he would never have been useful to God (Philippians 3:13). We are not able to erase memories completely, but we can learn that it’s possible to place our sins and faults in God’s hands, and we need not dwell on them every day. Repentance and baptism is only needed once in life to forgive sins.

Start thinking about what to do now and less about what you did then. Lift up your eyes to a bright future. God loved you enough to send His only begotten Son.