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I usually don't follow college basketball but this year's March Madness seemed full of extra madness, particularly with two Richmond teams making it to the Sweet Sixteen.  (I am from Richmond, in case you didn't know.)  Isn't it exciting when the unexpected happens?  Basketball fans watched as VCU made it to the Final Four.  After a very close game they were defeated by Butler.  Of course, there are a ton of people who would have loved to see VCU go all the way, and who are bummed that the team's run is over; but I have been really encouraged by the many, many followers who have chosen to focus on what the Rams accomplished rather than expressing great disappointment or sorrow over the loss.  A lot of my Facebook friends were cheering for VCU and so many of them said things after the game along the lines of,"Way to go, Rams!  There is nothing to hang your heads about!"  Even though they didn't win that particular game, look how far they came!  I love that attitude.  We all need to be able to look at where we are, look back at what has been accomplished, and feel good about that.

I think similar things can be said about the Christian journey.  I know for me it is so very easy to look at all of my mistakes, like the basketball players might look at each shot they missed and think,"If only I had made that one!"  Failures are easy to count, aren't they?  They practically number themselves.  And maybe it's good to look at them for the sake of learning, but we should not dwell on them.  Instead we ought to focus on both where we have come from and where we are headed, the goal.  The analogy between the life of faith and the basketball player breaks down, as often happens, because in the end it is really God who is accomplishing everything in and through us.  In seminary we had a professor tell us that sanctification was  100% the work of God and we have to do it.  So, we are still like the athletes who work hard to win the prize.  (Duh, the Bible does speak in those very terms.)  Yet we must maintain that apart from him we can do nothing.  (John 15:5)

In the Old Testament, the Israelites often looked back at what God had done in order to remember his faithfulness and to be encouraged by how he kept his promises before.  Because he is God and he does not change, we (like the Israelites) can believe and trust that he will keep his promises in the future.  When we look at how far we have come in our Christian life, we learn how to further place our trust in our Abba, our heavenly Father. 

I don't know if any of this makes sense, and I'm still mulling over things I read in the book One Thousand Gifts.  Still sorting things out in my head.  Looking back and remembering, looking forward and trusting.  Trying to learn, learning to trust, trusting when tried.  God's goodness is foremost in my mind.