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Yesterday Cannot Be Lived Again – Formed for This · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are things we remember because we want to.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And there are things we remember even when we wish we wouldn't.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: A conversation that didn't go well.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: A mistake we still regret.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Someone we loved who is no longer here.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or a season of life that was so good, we find ourselves wishing we could go back.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the past seems closer than the present.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think telling ourselves to simply move on helps very much.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some things deserve to be remembered.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some things take a long time to understand.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And some losses become part of us in ways we never completely outgrow.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Paul writes in the book of Philippians chapter 3 verses 13 and 14,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: which are before, I press on toward the goal.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: At first, those words can sound almost dismissive of the past.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul wasn't a man without memories.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: He carried a complicated history,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: things he had accomplished,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: things he regretted, and experiences that had changed him.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't suggesting that we erase what happened.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was reminding us that yesterday cannot be the only place we live.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: After spending so many years with people facing loss,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've come to appreciate the difference between remembering and remaining.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Remembering keeps a connection with what mattered.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Remaining can leave us emotionally living in a place we can no longer inhabit.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we move back and forth between the two.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of being human.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think about people who have lost someone they love.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: They don't need encouragement to forget.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: They need permission to remember with love while gradually discovering
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: that there is still a life before them.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps something similar is true of the regrets we carry.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: We can acknowledge what happened.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: We can learn from it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: We can make amends where that's possible.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we cannot go back and live that day again.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's something from yesterday that has been following you around.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to force yourself to let it go.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: But perhaps you can loosen your grip for a few moments.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You might quietly say, That happened.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It matters.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I am still here.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Lord God,
• 3:20
  [music]
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know my history.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I treasure, what I regret, and what still hurts.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Help me remember with gratitude, grieve with honesty, and learn with humility.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when I find myself living too much in yesterday,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: gently bring me back to the life that is still before me.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: As you return to your responsibilities carry this prayer with you.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: My past is part of me but grace meets me here.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: My past is part of me
• 4:25
  [music]
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: But grace meets me here.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: My past is part of me.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But grace meets me here.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.