p. 10 | Forgetting the Past

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 19, 1906

Forgetting the Past

ONE of St. Paul's methods for getting on in the world, in the best sense, is given to us in his epistle to the Philippians: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.” At the opening of a new year, or as a maxim for guidance in certain perplexities recurring every day, this is a good policy for us. Let the past go. Reach forth for fresh victories and achievements. Drop the old feuds, the time-worn bitternesses, the useless jealousies, the vain regrets, the long-time grievances, the brooding habits, the useless depressions—let them all go. They are of no avail; they only hamper and hinder you in the race. Drop, again, the hitherto accomplished triumphs; do not stop to rejoice over them, or to plume yourself in pride about them. Life is too short to be spent either in foolish regrets or in just as foolish exultations. Do your work, and then let it stand, and go on to something else. That is the substantial lesson of this noble maxim of the great apostle.—Zion's Herald.