.........been

  I spent some time recently in the Land of What Should Have Been. You know that place. That's

  where we go when we think about all the things we dreamed about back when life was like we

  wanted it to be and was on the verge of getting even better. You remember, don't you? It was

  when things were going well, when hopes were high, and potential great.  It's the place we

  like to go when we want to believe that life should be like we want it to be.

  We usually visit the Land of What Should Have Been when we get together with friends and

  family and begin thinking about dreams that never came true, opportunities that were lost,

  and projects that were never completed. The Land of What Should Have Been is different

  from The Good Old Days, in that these days really did exist. Many times The Good Old Days

  are better in our memory than they really were. The sun was brighter, the air was fresher,

  and the water was cleaner. The mountains were taller, the trips were longer, and laugher

  was louder.  We tend to remember those days through rose-colored glasses.

  But in the Land of What Should Have Been there was a time when life truly was good, and if

  one or two things had gone the way we had hoped they would, our world would have been

  entirely different than it is now. In our minds What Should Have Been would have been more

  amazing and more exciting than we could have ever imagined. The Land of What Should Have

  Been is where we go to remember life as it almost was.

  When we go to the Land of What Should Have Been we must be very careful to guard our hearts

  and our thinking. We may revive old resentments. We may stir up frustrations and

  disappointments that we had sufficiently buried. We may reignite old flames of anger and

  heartache that had been sufficiently been snuffed out. And we may be tempted to dwell there

  longer than we should.

  As we linger in the Land of What Should Have Been we run the risk of dwelling on the negative

  reasons that we now live with what could have been. We may be confronted with the guilt that

  resulted from our actions that changed the course of life. We may again feel the shame we

  felt when as suffered the consequences of our actions. The anger we felt toward those who

  caused us so much pain may resurface with a force even greater than when we first experienced

  them. It can be dangerous to linger too long in the Land of What Should Have Been.

  Perhaps the worst thing about going to the Land of What Should Have Been is that while we

  linger in the Land of What Should Have Been, we may miss the opportunities the present. As

  we linger in the Land of What Should Have Been we may forfeit the right to visit the Land

  of What Can Be.

  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about

  your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more

  important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away

  in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

  "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor

  or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of

  these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow

  is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not

  worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For

  the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you

  as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each

  day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:25-34, NIV)

-tom novell