Running backward

Today ,on my walk ,I saw the oddest thing. A man was running backward, looking over his shoulder as he ran. What was that all about? He jogged by so intently, that I did not feel I could ask him why, that it was a burning question I had.
I know that if I tried to do that, I would fall flat on my face ASAP. How he kept from doing so is a mystery to me.
I thought about how I do that sometimes in my mind. Instead of pushing forward in my life, I focus on what is behind, the past failures, and hurts. I think to myself,’ If only‘…. ‘Why?’… or’ How could they have‘? Doing that is like running backward. The consequent is to fall flat on your face, be humiliated and go nowhere.
Paul challenges me to forget what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead. That will keep me from twisting up my feet and having a painful fall. It also means that I will progress beyond that painful time of suffering or betrayal or failure to the next adventure God has for me.