In the opening game of the 2001 football season, a mistake by the University of Colorado cost the team a chance to play for the national championship. When coach Gary Barnett was asked about it, he said, "We don't think about it. I learned a long time ago: Don't trip on something behind you." Barnett was busy recruiting new players and preparing for a holiday bowl game and had no time to dwell on the past.

We all need to live in the present. But what about the mistakes we deeply regret? How can we deal with past sins and failures that still weigh us down? Oswald Chambers, speaking of the sadness of what might have been, said: "Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the 'might have been' into a wonderful culture [source of nourishment and growth] for the future."

The psalmist asked God to search his heart and see if there was any wicked way in him, so that he might confess it and be forgiven. Then he added, "Lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

God does not want us to be imprisoned by yesterday, but to be free for today and tomorrow.
  — David C. McCasland