Looking in the Rearview Mirror

When I was a young boy my family would always make a Summer trip out of state to visit my Grandma and Aunt. It was a long drive over curvy, mountainous roads. It often took up to eight hours to get there. This was before the age of i-pods and DVD players too. My Dad didn’t care much for the rock music the radio stations played in the nineteen seventies either, so the trip was a quiet one. Stuffed in the back seat of the family sedan with my two brothers, I only had one thing that I could do and that was look out the window.

A window seat was best for scenery watching, but being the youngest and the smallest I was always stuck in the middle. That left gazing over my brothers’ shoulders or looking through the rearview mirror at what we had just passed. The second option, however, could never be done for long. With mountain roads I never knew when the next curve was coming up and if what I was looking at didn’t match what my body was feeling then I was carsick in minutes.

After a few times of my stomach turning flip flops I learned my lesson and kept my eyes on the road ahead. That way I could gaze in wonder at the golden light of the sun shining down on the green leafs of the trees as we drove by them. That way I could enjoy seeing the deer peacefully eating grass along the side of the road. That way I could delight in what was coming next instead of being sick over what was already left behind.

Those long trips taught me that you can’t live your life always looking in the rearview mirror. If you want to enjoy the beautiful moments of today then you have to see them as they happen. God doesn’t want us to live in the past. He wants us to embrace the joy that each new day brings. He wants us to realize the preciousness of every second and use them all to love Him, ourselves, and others. Keep your eyes on the road ahead then and trust God to lead you Home.

Joseph J. Mazzella joemazzella@frontier.com