The Ghosts of Our Past

 

As I walk through the Halloween wonderland that is my neighborhood, I came across this house that is all in on ghosts. I am certain that from now on this tree will, in my mind, be forever remembered as the ghost tree. It is as if Fall has arrived and it is ghost picking time. Grab a basket and load up on some ghosts!

But I couldn’t help but think that we all have plenty of ghosts of our own already; we have no need of picking up any one else’s. We have those things from the past that seem to linger, that seem to keep hanging around in our heads and in our hearts. Regret. Pain. Failure. Disappointment. Dreams that were unfulfilled and plans that we never risked to try.

We should never let such “ghosts” blind us to all the other memories that also have place in our heads and our hearts. We should remember the moments we never regret; moments when we lived fully into life and love, moments when we knew joy and hope. We must spend time nurturing the dreams that still energize us and making plans for the future that is still ours to embrace.

The prophet Isaiah writes, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” There is always coming that which will move us farther from our ghosts and closer to what will be. We do not have to be restrained or defined by the ghosts of our pasts. We can live in the present and hope in the future. That is the gift of life.

Peace.