I've reached a place in life where I can look back without panicking. I have regrets, but I'm willing to mention them if they might help someone else avoid a mistake I've made. Mostly, I look over my shoulder in gratitude.
People often declare that hindsight is 20/20, but I think that hindsight may be more perceptive than simple vision. Looking back allows us to see patterns that are rarely apparent in day-to-day life. Backward glances can't change the past, but they can influence the present and future. The mirror of memory helps prevent repeated mistakes.
Viewed over my shoulder, I notice in a very different way the impact others have had on my life. I can see that opportunities and choices were presented to me by people who appeared in my life as if planted there. Often, brief conversations, counsel, and direction came from these fellow travelers. They, in turn, introduced others who also influenced my journey.
I can see clearly now that Jesus arranged a lot of encounters in my life. Instead of speaking directly to me, He often sought my attention through other people. They were part of a tilling process that made me feel like a farm soil. I mean, some of these people disturbed my life like a plow cutting through hard ground. Others came along and patiently picked stones that had cluttered the surface of my life. One or 2 spread smelly stuff they called fertilizer over me. That was hard to appreciate. And then came the seeds, made up of words and deeds that fell into the furrows of my heart and mind and germinated by a timetable all their own.
Rains come, days and sometimes years pass, here and there in the field of me. Seedlings of change broke the surface and grew into new habits, mature obedience, ripened wisdom. It took time, but I now see it as a picture of God's patience. He was working behind the scene so undeniably that sometimes I think I see His shadow, hovering over my days, making all the difference.