Move Forward
Let them excuse and forbear. Do you not love that God should forgive you? God is all-forgiving, all-merciful. (Qur’an, 24:22).
It is easy to go through life looking in the rear view mirror, focused on what did not work out, on who hurt you, on the mistakes you have made. However, as long as you are living in regrets, focused on the negative things of the past, it is going to keep you from the bright future God has in store for you. You have to let go of what did not work out. Let go of the hurts and pains.
Let go of things like that. You cannot do anything about the past but you can do something about right now. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said, “You live between past and future. The past is the past and the future is not coming yet, so be careful about today.”1
If you keep bringing negative baggage from yesterday into today, it will poison your future. You may have had an unfair past but do not let what somebody did or did not do for you, be an excuse to live sour. Do not let a bad break, a divorce, and a betrayal; cause you to settle where you are. Move forward and God will pay you back and vindicate you. You will come in to a new beginning.
Do not weaken or grieve: you shall have the upper hand, should you be faithful. (Qur’an, 3:139).
If you stay focused on the past, you will get stuck where you are. This is the reason many people do not have joy, no enthusiasm for life. Life is too short to live that way. Learn to travel light. Every morning when you first get up, forgive the people that did you wrong the day before.
Let them excuse and forbear. Do you not love that God should forgive you? God is all-forgiving, all-merciful. (Qur’an, 24:22).
Start every morning afresh and anew. God did not create you to carry around all that baggage. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said, “Reduce the burden to reach the previous.”2
You should focused on what you can change; not what you cannot change. What is done is done. If you lost your temper yesterday you can either beat yourself up, carry around the guilt and condemnation, or you can ask for forgiveness, receive God’s mercy and better today.
You may have had some bad breaks but that did not stop God’s plan for your life. He still has something amazing in front of you. There is always an opportunity to catch up. He Almighty says,
“O My servants who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of God. Indeed God will forgive all sins. Indeed He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.” (Qur’an, 39:53).
When one door closes, if you will stay in faith, God will always open up another door. One of the attributes of God is Jabbar (Redeeming - compensating for faults or defects).
He is Almighty God there is no other God except Him the Sovereign, the All-holy, the All-benign, the Securer, the All-conserver, the All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-magnanimous. Clear is God of any partners that they may ascribe to Him! (Qur’an, 59:23).
Everything that happens in this world is on schedule. It is the plan of Almighty God.
With Him are the treasures of the Unseen; no one knows them except Him. He knows whatever there is in land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it, nor is there a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or withered but it is in a manifest Book. (Qur’an, 6:59).
Your life is not over because you lost. God has another victory in front of you. Quit thinking about your lost. God will compensate your faults or defects. When negative pictures come up on the move screen of your mind, change the channel. You have the remote control.
You do not have to watch everything comes up. Every time you think about it, you are re-opening it. The mind is very powerful. If you replay negative experiences, you will feel the same emotion as when it first happened.
Think about useful experiences. Think about things that are pure, about the signs of God, about the creation of the heavens and the earth not about negative experiences. Qur’an says,
“Have they not reflected in their own souls? God did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except with reason and for a specified term.” (Qur’an, 30:8).
The negative memories will try to replay repeatedly. You cannot change the past but you can change the future. As many people could do that. People like Hurr3 in the day of Ashura, Fozeil Ayaz,4 and Gondi. So do not be disappointed like those whom Qur’an says about them:
“And should any ill befall man, he becomes hopeless, despondent.” (Qur’an, 41:49).
Do not despair of God’s mercy because what happened in the past. You can start again. You can change the future. Think about Joseph and his brother. They betrayed him. They made a mistake. However, Jacob told them,
“Go, my sons, and look for Joseph and his brother, and do not despair of God’s mercy. Indeed no one despairs of God’s mercy except the faithless lot.” (Qur’an, 12:87).
At last they found him and Joseph forgave them.
Every time you can start again.
Those who repent, attain faith, and act righteously, for such, God will replace their misdeeds with good deeds, and God is all-forgiving, all-merciful. (Qur’an, 25:70).
Shake off the disappointment. Say, “I know what is in my future is greater than what is in my past, so I am pressing forward in life. Get your hopes up. Maybe what happen to you in past was good for you. Know that
Perhaps you may hate something while it is good for you, and perhaps you may love something while it is bad for you; God knows while you do not know. (Qur’an, 2:216).
God has better plan for new season of your life. So, be surrender and submit to the Lord of the worlds like Abraham who
When his Lord said to him, “Submit”, he said, “I submit to the Lord of all the worlds.” (Qur’an, 2:131).
A much better approach is to take that loss and saw it as a seed. Say, “I do not know why this was taken away but I am not going to let anyone steal from me.” Do not have Victim mentality. It might be difficult but know that your Lord is still on the throne. There are incredible opportunities in front of you. The rest of your life will be the best of your life. So be patient and hopeful and with trust in God move forward.
Put your trust in God; God suffices as trustee. (Qur’an, 65:3).
