Last year as I was gearing up to compete for Miss California (for the first time), I struggled with comparing myself to the other 57 contestants. Then I soon realized that the energy I spent in those thoughts was not helping make me a better competitor or a better person, and if I was going to race to the end, there was only one car for me to focus on and that was my own.
Because I spend too much time driving on a daily basis, I tend to make a lot of car analogies. As I gear up for this year's competition and anytime in life when competition is present, I think of it like driving on a busy freeway. All of the cars are going in the same direction (competing for the same goal). If I focus on the cars in the lanes next to me (competitors), I'll probably end up wrecking my car. If I spend too much time looking in the rearview mirror (dwelling on the shortcomings of my past), again, I'm at a high risk for an accident. How will I get to my destination (reach my goal)? By looking straight ahead at the road (journey) before me. Yes, occasionally I will need to glance at the cars next to me or in my rearview mirror. But I will not let my past hold me back or my fears and worries take priority.
The rearview mirror concept is so popular today. It seems that so many people, whether they realize it or not, live their lives held back by mistakes and baggage of the past. Especially around the time of Easter when studying the Resurrection, it became so clear to me that Jesus died for us to be cleansed of our pasts and to no longer be chained to our shortcomings. He didn't go through that suffering for us to live outside of our potential. Imagine what we could each accomplish or the freedom and happiness we could experience on a daily basis if we stopped focusing on the rearview mirror and instead looked through the big, clean, promising windshields in front of our eyes.
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