My Past = My Future?

Coming into the new year a lot of us are always actively thinking of a way to reinvent ourselves but more times than can be recounted a lot of us also give up along the way because it just seems like our past will continue to define who we can be.

While actively thinking of this on a short walk the following question came to mind:

Is my future set in stone based on my past/ genealogy?

Well like most of us I certainly hope not.

One of the answers that popped up in my head is from a crime series I love love “Criminal minds” 😍😍.

In the show we are presented two individuals named Hotchner and Foyet. Both men were abused by their fathers at a younger age and both held some resentment towards their fathers because of this, yet they both turned out completely different. 

Hotchner grew up to become an attorney who was always working for the good guys but as years progressed he decided to do more by joining the Behavioral Analysis Unit according to him the reasoning behind this was for him to get the bad guys before they were able to do so much harm. Hotchner turned out to be a great father, always dotting on his son and even putting his life and eventually his job on the line for his son’s safety. 

The next case study is Foyet, he had the same trauma in his childhood like Hotchner and grew up using this trauma as a crutch for why he became a serial killer stating that his rationale for killing women was because his mother was too weak to protect him from the abuse of his father.

Hotchner was proof that the past does not write the future unless we let it.

Reeling it in a bit let’s look at Jesus himself, if we study his genealogy as shown in Matthew 1: 1- 17, we see a very diverse array of ancestors with different backstories. We have Rahab (the prostitute), Ruth ( the non-Jewish Moabite), and David(The adulterer) Whew!😳😱😱 If genealogy was a predictor of the future well Jesus did not stand a chance but yet He not only stood a chance but He did great and wonderful exploits, the greatest being that He showed us just how much God loved us. 

So to you who might already be thinking what is the point, no one in my family has ever made it or my past is just too nasty for me to turn a new leaf, well this is a call for you to throw those beliefs down the drain and begin working to be better.

Image from: educating4life.wordpress.com

Just because our past does not determine our future does not mean we won’t still have to face the consequences of our action though. For example, if Mr A murders Mr B and is sentenced to death, turning a new leaf is no guarantee that Mr A would be taken off death row but it is a guarantee that Mr A would live a better life that might even reach out to a lost person he meets in prison. 

Yes, consequences can be difficult to deal with but still do not let that keep you from becoming a better version of you 

Verse of the day: Psalm 143:8 

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,

    for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

    for to you I entrust my life.”