Jim, my prayer partner from church, and I were recently talking about how Christians deal with difficult times. He gave his blessing for me to share a story that came from that conversation.

Jim said that his father was a big gardener, tending to as many as four gardens in different parts of town in the summers. It is important to know that Jim's father did not believe in using weed killing chemicals. So you already have an inkling about how Jim and his siblings spent their summers: pulling weeds in gardens.

One particular garden was the most difficult to weed. It was on a hill and close to a football field in length. Jim and his siblings would pull weeds from the rows sweet corn and look up to see how much farther they had to go to finish weeding that row. Every time they looked up they would get more and more discouraged because they could not see the end of the row on that hill. It seemed like corn went on for eternity.

Finally Jim figured out a way change their attitudes when the evenings got long. He would tell his siblings: "Don't look forward at how far you have to go. Look back and see how many weeds you've pulled."

That's simple but profound advice.

How many times have we looked forward in ministry and got psyched out?
+ We look up and see no resolution to conflict in the church.
+ We peer into the future and see no relief to financial problems in the church.
+ We focus forward only to get a sinking sensation that inactive members will never again participate in congregational life.

If we were to follow Jim's advice at such times we would look backwards. Looking back we see that God has already delivered us from more difficult times. We see how God has sustained us through rough days that taught us valuable lessons of faith.

The idea of looking back brings to mind Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6 about remembering that God has always cared for His creation. It resonates with every passage where Psalmists call us to remember God's faithfulness in the past to provide hope for the future.

There is godly wisdom in looking back before again looking forward.