The past, it's something we all have, and it's something that we all sometimes wish was never there. It's something that must be learned from, but it's something that keeps most of us trapped because we just can't escape. We can't escape from what happened. It haunts us at every turn. We can't escape from what we've learned. It's something that we can't seem to break from. Chains that were formed long ago in our hearts just continue to keep ahold of our hearts and minds. Sometimes it leads us to wonder why we hold on so hard to our past. Why do we let our past hurt us so much? We learn things from what happens to us in the past, in the present, and we will in the future. Bad things happen, and good things happen all the same. Scars are left on us, well, in our hearts, that we can't seem to let go of. Stories flood the newspapers everyday, stories of people who inflict pain upon others. Oftentimes, when the story unfolds, it is discovered that the inflictor, the perpetrator, was struggling with letting go of the past. Psychologists often look into our past to see what may be holding us back today, this very minute. We're often held back from doing some great and important things in our lives just because we are still holding onto something from our past. I will admit straightforward that I am not free from these problems that I'm discussing. I've had emotional hurts in my own life that have held me back from really opening up to people, from really having relationships with them. The hurts that other people had inflicted upon me held me back from really trusting people, really letting them see who I am because I was afraid that they would just hurt me, like so many others had done in the past. What had happened to me caused me to feel like I didn't deserve to be treated with respect. This hindered my relationship with God because I didn't think I deserved His love, not in the least. Now, some of you may not realize this from looking at me now, but it's true. It still hinders me at times today, my past. Why do we hold onto these things. When we're little, we learn things from parents, from friends, from teachers, from enemies. We build our own little idea of how the world works early in our lives. What happens to us makes us think that that's how things are. This can cause us to be depressed because we think things have to be this way and don't want to continue having to have that. Our view of the world is set in front of us at an early age. If our family is a certain way, that's how the world is. Our family is really all we know as a little child. Even more often, we think that it is unfair that the world works this way, especially when we find out different later on. Fear is another thing that builds up from our past. Bad things happen. That is a fact of life. We can be hurt more than we could ever imagine possible. This creates scars that we so often try to hide. Whenever we're faced with a similar situation, we run away because we think that that same thing is just going to happen to us again. We get angry at God because of what happened to us, as if no one else is at fault besides Him. We begin to hate ourselves becasue we can't see beyond our own mistake in the situation. We think that we let ourselves into it, so, we're the only ones to blame. Fear holds us back from so many things, and many times, this fear stems from our past. It's hard to make commitments because they have been broken so many times. Fear is one of the hardest chains to break, but there is a way. We need to recognize that our past is not how things always work. In order to step forward and do good things, we need to not expect our past to repeat itself. But in order for out past to not repeat itself, we need to learn from it. We need to realize what we need to do in order to keep that past from being repeated again. It is important to step back and look at what happened, but it is not good do dwell on it. Once we realize what went wrong, we need to take steps to change it. Unless we try to change ourselves, we will always make the same mistake over and over again. In the end, the most important thing to realize is that our past is the past for a reason, and this is because it is done and over with. We need not live in the past because the past is already behind us. Another thing to realize is that the things that happen to us now will eventually become the past as well. Today is today, but tomorrow, today will become yesterday. There is a song called "When Tomorrow Comes" by Pillar that says "Just remember when tomorrow comes that today is now yesterday." I encourage you to read the lyrics to this song. It is so true. We need not let ourselves become discouraged by what happens to us today because it will become the past eventually. The things that last in this life are our relationship with God, our relationships with others, and what we do for God and others. When we consider that, circumstances and things that happen suddenly aren't so devastating.