Don't Look Back, Just Keep Going!

I was listening to a radio program today that had an interesting perspective on not looking back. They mentioned not dwelling in the past, whether it's the good in your past or the bad. The bad part is obvious because it can often drag us down and discourage us from moving forward, but I hadn't thought about the fact that if we focus on the good we've done in the past then we might be so busy giving ourselves credit for what we've already done or accomplished that we also stop moving forward and growing.

I think I needed that reminder. I've done pretty good about leaving my past behind with only occasional regrets, but I think I'm guilty sometimes of thinking of the good I've been doing lately and thinking that maybe it's enough. But if I stop working toward becoming Christ-like God isn't going to be happy looking at what I've done in the past... He's going to look at what's in my heart TODAY, and what I'm doing with the day that He's given me. I may never reach my final goal of being like Jesus in this life, but I've got to keep trying. It's not easy to keep going somedays, but I know that in the end it will be worth it.

I think Dieter F. Uchtdorf explains it well:
"...enduring to the end is not just a matter of passively tolerating life’s difficult circumstances or “hanging in there.” Ours is an active religion, helping God’s children along the strait and narrow path to develop their full potential during this life and return to Him one day.
...Enduring to the end is a process filling every minute of our life, every hour, every day, from sunrise to sunrise. It is accomplished through personal discipline following the commandments of God.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is a way of life. It is not for Sunday only. It is not something we can do only as a habit or a tradition if we expect to harvest all of its promised blessings. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 18–21)