Roy T. Bennett
Thought for the Week
Learn from the past, live in the present: If we are wise (and if we are not, no advice will help), we will learn not to dwell in a place where change is impossible. Instead, we will draw lessons from there, and then return and apply them here where it is.
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“Even a spineless anthropod sheds what’s no longer useful and leaves it behind them. Are you not greater than they?” ~Jason Versey
“Take care not to welcome today the terrors that will make yesterday’s demons look like angels.” ~Joyce Rachelle
“There’s no going back to erase the past… But if you look closer, you notice the ink never really dries on experiences. They can change their meaning the longer you look at them.” ~John Koenig
“Without experiencing pain from disconcerting periods of our lives, we would be a different person, perhaps a lesser person.” ~Kilroy J. Oldster
“Looking at the past to lament it is useless. Looking at the past to be proud of results is dangerous. Looking at the past to learn from it is wise.” ~Cardinal Văn Thuận
Mitch, another thought provoking post. “Looking at the past to learn from it is wise.” Living life today and embracing it!
How I wish this was something easy to accomplish. I struggle because my future was destroyed and I haven’t been able to envision a new one.
A prayer for you, today.🌷 (((And a hug)))
Aw, bless you, dear Carol, and hugs back. 🧡
I’m so sorry to hear that. 🙏
🙏🏾🙏🏾
They can change their meaning the longer you look at them. Hmmm
In other words, “been there, done that, not going to do it again.” Thanks for your thought-challenging posts, Mitch! 😁
My pleasure, dear friend. 🧡
Gray Post, thanks for sharing
My pleasure, L.G.
I have been stuck in the past and i love the thought don’t dwell in a place where change is impossible. How many times can a person beat themselves up mentally…enough is enough. Love this post!
I’m so glad it spoke to you, Martha.
I’m with the Cardinal!
I love this! 💕
So glad it spoke to you, Ab.
Great advice.
Some things are beyond human will-power to simply, choose, that’s why we need Jesus, to reach us, retrieve us, help us learn what is beyond our learning disability, and set us free.
Scripture doesn’t just tell us to learn from the past; it tells us that the King Himself redeems it. The world says, “Don’t dwell where change is impossible.” Heaven says, “Bring your past to the One who makes all things new.”
Our story isn’t static ink. In the hands of mighty King Jesus, even the chapters we wish we could erase become places where His mercy rewrites meaning. Pain becomes formation. Regret becomes repentance. Loss becomes seed. Nothing surrendered to Jesus stays wasted.
So here’s the kingdom edge: don’t just learn from the past — hand it over. Let the King judge it, heal it, reinterpret it, and repurpose it. Live in the present not because the past is irrelevant, but because the King is active now, shaping you with what He has already carried.
Walk today as someone whose history is no longer a prison but a testimony. The King is making all things new — including us.
Amen, Michael.
Without experiencing pain from disconcerting periods of our lives, we would be a different person, perhaps a lesser person.” ~Kilroy J. Oldster
Kilroy was here and was brilliant
Wise words. I had to look him up, Mark. First I’ve heard of the this whimsically-pennamed writer.
We have been looking backwards at places where we made wise decisions, with the grace of God, that have paid off big time now in our old age. We had no idea that what we decided about jobs, house, even friends, would pay off with dividends now.
Yes, walking with God is like that, Delaine. 🧡
Oof! The quote from John Koenig!
“…the ink never really dries on experiences”…
Wowza. Thanks for all of these! 💝
My pleasure, Vicki❣
❤️😉❤️
One of the mentor characters in my novel Mystical Greenwood says something like this, to learn from the past and dwell in the present to create a better future.
good thoughts for the rest of the week, thanks for sharing
My pleasure, FMD, and good to hear from you.
Another rich vein of thoughts here. Thanks, as always. There’s much to be learned from a close examination of the past, but one should avoid judging past actions by today’s standards.
Good point, Christopher.
True but it’s difficult for me sometimes not to wish I’d acted differently.
Learning hard lessons can be tuff but well worth it.
I don’t believe that change is impossible as with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
And remember not the former things, behold I make a new thing.
Isaiah 43:19-19
Great and insightful! I love this!
Yes!
Thank you for sharing. Love the quotes.
I very much like that thought