That'll Be The Day

“A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.”

– Don McLean’s American Pie

The beginning of February means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. For some folks (mainly up north) it means Groundhog Day and celebrating the tipping point of winter and the movement towards spring. For the political junkies out there, it marks Super Tuesday and the race for the White House. Growing up it always meant something a little different for me. I was a huge fan of Buddy Holly and, as many of you might know, he died in a plane crash in the early morning hours of February 3^rd, 1959. This event was immortalized in song by Don McLean in his song “American Pie” when he referred to the crash as the “day the music died.” It is a nostalgic ballad about the roots of rock or roll and the loss of innocence. It is beautiful, poetic and catchy, but it is also filled with a deep sadness fueled by unfulfilled expectations.

I know that many of us have a melancholy spirit when we look back to the past. There are certainly happy times, but it feels like human nature to focus on the negative. We know that we should be joyous, but we are overcome by memories of poor choices, failed relationships and unfulfilled dreams. It can lead to a lot of anxiety, worry and grief.

The good news is you do not have to live like that. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus came that we might live life to the fullest. There will always be hurts from the past, but God has given us God’s Spirit to help us overcome. The Apostle Paul writes the church in Corinth about the Lord’s comfort even in the midst of our most difficult times. “For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation (2 Corinthians 1:5-7).”

There are some that believe that when we mess up, God is right there to make us feel guilty. While the Lord’s plan for us is holiness, I do not believe that God wants us to be overcome with guilt. The Lord will convict us of our sin, but only in a call to repentance and to live a more abundant life. We no longer need to be captives to the past, because God owns our future. God’s grace is bigger than your mistakes, no matter what they may be. Paul writes the believers in Rome that, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Romans 5:20).”

February may make you shiver, but take heart, there is good news on your door step. You are not a slave to your past. God owns yesterday, walks with us today and promises to see you through tomorrow.