By Martha M. Bradley
As she turns the chapters in the book she calls her life, she sees a dark past and a future that looks grim.
The pages in the front of the book represent her past. They are dirty and torn because SHE finds herself
reading & reliving the events listed there over and over again. The more SHE reads them and relives them
her future begins to look darker and darker and for some reason SHE can’t get past her pain long enough
to realize that the pages near the end of the book that represent her future are actually blank. After years
and years of reading the first six chapters over and over again, SHE finally asked herself, “Can someone
help me fix my broken life?”
As she turns the chapters in the book she calls her life, she sees a dark past and a future that looks grim.
The pages in the front of the book represent her past. They are dirty and torn because SHE finds herself
reading & reliving the events listed there over and over again. The more SHE reads them and relives them
her future begins to look darker and darker and for some reason SHE can’t get past her pain long enough
to realize that the pages near the end of the book that represent her future are actually blank. After years
and years of reading the first six chapters over and over again, SHE finally asked herself, “Can someone
help me fix my broken life?”
We can go through life comparing our individual lives to different people and to different things. We
secretly live in guilt and shame because of the things that we’ve done or been through. We swim in that
guilt & shame, even though it hurts us to do so. Why? Why do we keep reliving our past hurts & pains if
they only continue to cause us more hurt and pain? This is a question I do not have the answer to because
I believe everyone has their own reasons for not letting these things go. I believe that some of us do not
understand how holding on to negative experiences immobilize us. Maybe some just feel powerless not
realizing that they can regain their power by letting go. As long as we live in a state of un-forgiveness we
give others (the offender) power over us.
In the beginning, I spoke of blank pages at the end of the book. The pages are not blank because her
future is uncertain, they are blank because as soon as she places herself in the position to move beyond
her past she can begin again. She can write a new story and prophetically dictate how her story will end.
The wonderful thing about life is that we are often presented with opportunities to begin again. Every 24
hours presents a new day; at the end of the 7th day a new week is presented and so on. Not only have we
entered a new year, we’ve just begun a new season. Stop reading the old chapters of your life over and
over again and learn how to begin again!
***From TBLE Newletter
secretly live in guilt and shame because of the things that we’ve done or been through. We swim in that
guilt & shame, even though it hurts us to do so. Why? Why do we keep reliving our past hurts & pains if
they only continue to cause us more hurt and pain? This is a question I do not have the answer to because
I believe everyone has their own reasons for not letting these things go. I believe that some of us do not
understand how holding on to negative experiences immobilize us. Maybe some just feel powerless not
realizing that they can regain their power by letting go. As long as we live in a state of un-forgiveness we
give others (the offender) power over us.
In the beginning, I spoke of blank pages at the end of the book. The pages are not blank because her
future is uncertain, they are blank because as soon as she places herself in the position to move beyond
her past she can begin again. She can write a new story and prophetically dictate how her story will end.
The wonderful thing about life is that we are often presented with opportunities to begin again. Every 24
hours presents a new day; at the end of the 7th day a new week is presented and so on. Not only have we
entered a new year, we’ve just begun a new season. Stop reading the old chapters of your life over and
over again and learn how to begin again!
***From TBLE Newletter