If you are feeling tethered to your past, like you aren’t measuring up in the present, I invite you to soak in the words of today’s guest post from artist, author, and life coach Rachel Anne Ridge. Rachel devotes her days to helping others discover who their loving Creator made them to be, encouraging them to live fully present in each moment. It’s a grace to welcome Rachel to the farm’s table today . . .

Guest Post by Rachel Anne Ridge

“Leave the past behind” is a common piece of advice, or as Pumba said in The Lion King, “Put your behind in the past.” That’s easier said than done.

Rather than trying to forget your past, honoring it grants you the freedom to visit.

Often, we find ourselves stuck in old patterns, memories, and hurts that keep us from moving forward in our lives. Rather than trying to forget your past, honoring it grants you the freedom to visit.

My friend Jenny’s childhood was marked by instability. Raised by a single parent who struggled with addiction, Jenny took it upon herself to make sure her younger siblings had clean clothes to wear to school and did their homework at night.

Jenny was popular at school, but she never invited any friends over because she was too embarrassed. She became so adept at hiding her personal life that when she became an adult, she almost convinced herself of an alternate story about her past—a carefree childhood filled with adventure and fun.

But by the time she finished college and landed her first job, an overwhelming sense of sadness sometimes kept her from getting out of bed in the morning. She berated herself for not being able to “get it together” and be confident and carefree like everyone else. The more she tried to fit in with her young professional friends, the more miserable she became.

By sharing her story she began to own it, and the shame she’d carried for so long slowly started to lift.

One day, after watching some children ride their bikes with joyful abandon through a park, her tears began to flow. When she couldn’t stop crying, she knew it was time to seek help.

Jenny found a therapist who helped her unpack the story she’d kept locked inside. Even though it was difficult, she opened up about her past and something began to shift inside. By sharing her story she began to own it, and the shame she’d carried for so long slowly started to lift.

For the first time, she was able to see her past in a new light and offer kindness to the girl who once held it all together, instead of judging the woman who just couldn’t do it any longer.

Shame keeps us from believing that we are worthy of living to our fullest potential and inhibits our ability to imagine the beautiful gold we can bring to the world. Of all the things that can keep us stuck, shame takes top prize for shuttering our minds to hope and to limitless thinking.

The past is made sacred by telling the stories, honoring what you lived, endured, and survived.

Shame keeps us from believing that we are worthy of living to our fullest potential and inhibits our ability to imagine the beautiful gold we can bring to the world.

The past brought to the altar stands as a testament to resilience; the juxtaposition of pain in a holy place gifts us with the tenderness we need to offer ourselves. It makes space for a joy to break through and echo to the rafters that you are here, you have arrived, and you are alive.

You are here.

You are alive.

You have arrived at the altar of celebration for this very moment.

Now. It’s good to take a breath and be present to your present.

Close your eyes for a minute and imagine your present being festooned with wreaths of flowers and ribbons as a ceremonial thanksgiving for simply being here.

Inhale.

Exhale. Ahhhh.

I can almost smell the roses and honeysuckle around my neck. What about you?

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The meeting of two eternities, the past and future, . . . is precisely the present moment.” Perhaps there should be a thunderclap at such an intersection.

Ascribing honor to the present is a simple practice of mindfulness. It is an intentional act of creating space for gratitude for each breath, for the ground beneath our feet, and for the opportunities that stand ready for us to embark upon.

Instead we are loading the dishwasher (hey, it’s not going to load itself), or scrolling on social media, or simply passing through the present moment preoccupied by the future or distracted by the clamor of our times.

We are certainly not accustomed to thinking about two eternities meeting while sorting socks and trying to figure out why that grass stain is still on your child’s jersey even though you used bleach.

Right now is often so mundane and forgettable.

Ascribing honor to the present is a simple practice of mindfulness.

It is an intentional act of creating space for gratitude for each breath, for the ground beneath our feet, and for the opportunities that stand ready for us to embark upon.

And that can happen even when we are going about the everyday activities of our lives. It’s an acknowledgement of the gift of now. It’s what my donkeys Flash and Henry do best: They fully appreciate each moment, every mouthful of fresh grass, and each ray of sunshine as it comes.

I remember an incident when my oldest daughter, Lauren, was a toddler. I had dressed her in her play clothes, and then lifted her onto the counter so I could gather her fine red hair into a tiny ponytail on top of her head, Pebbles Flintstone style. With the ponytail secured, I set the comb down, and we wrapped our arms around each other tightly, swaying back and forth.

I looked into her bright blue eyes, and we held each other’s gaze for a long, long while. I want to hold this in my memory forever, I thought. This girl, this red hair, this little apartment . . . everything. I breathed it all in, and I knew then that Lauren shared this intimate connection with her mommy in a special way too.

Being mindful of the present doesn’t try to create magical moments out of the mundane or attempt to force meaning into every single minute, but it does celebrate the life that allows for the mundane…

Ascribing honor to the present is a posture of humility and gratitude that uncovers a treasure trove of rewards: It relieves stress and cultivates peace, creates a more positive mindset for solving problems, lowers blood pressure, gives us a sense of groundedness, and helps us gain much-needed perspective, says Dr. Robert Emmons, one of the world’s leading scientific experts on gratitude.

Being mindful of the present doesn’t try to create magical moments out of the mundane or attempt to force meaning into every single minute, but it does celebrate the life that allows for the mundane to exist by placing a “thinking of you” bouquet upon the day’s contents. It creates an atmosphere of abundant living that infuses both sock-sorting and deal-signing with a sense of gratitude instead of entitlement.

Ascribing honor to the meeting place of eternity past and eternity future finds a sacred home within a sanctuary filled with a community that’s present with you.

Adapted from The Donkey Principle: The Secret to Long-Haul Living in a Racehorse World by Rachel Anne Ridge, releasing from Tyndale House Publishers in April 2023.

[ Our humble thanks to Tyndale Publishing House for their partnership in today’s devotional. ]