As Olive (my 3 yr old daughter) and I sat on the porch, she took a freshly fallen, “fallish” colored leaf in hand and started planting the stem in one of our porch planters. I watched for a moment and then asked, “What are you doing, Olive?” “I’m planting a leaf, Dad, so it will grow into more.” I then proceeded to tell here that in order for her to grow more leaves, she would have to plant seeds or just wait until the spring brought the new green leaves, but that she could not grow those red and yellow leaves simply by sticking one into the dirt by its stem.

So often, I find myself trying to live life like Olive’s way of thinking: a moment or memory in time is so wonderful that I want to stick it into the soil of fresh reality and hope that it will sprout up anew in real time. The problem with that is that things in the past do not reproduce in that way; once they are lived, they are gone like the fall leaves, but the Scriptures show us a more mature mindset.

The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:13-16

13 But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.  (Philippians 3:13–16, ESV)

Paul had much to look back on in his life, good and bad, but he makes it clear that his goal is in the future, it is forward. There is an upward call for each one of God’s children that they have not yet reached in life and will not until they are fully matured with Jesus in glory. I guess you could say that there is an upward call for everyone, even those who do not believe in and follow Jesus. His call to them is to come and have eternal life through faith in Him. His call to His children is to come and live and love the eternal life that they have already received. But both of these calls require forward, or more specifically, upward thinking. We cannot be locked into the past and find new life.

Paul goes on to write in Philippians 3:

That the enemies of the cross have their minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious bod (Philippians 3:19–21, ESV)

This means that our minds and momentum ought to be forward or upward thinking. Paul makes it clear that we should not forfeit what we already have – for the Christian that is eternal life and the orthodox faith (2 Tim. 3:14) – but that we should continue to mature in a forward direction of life, looking to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for each new step for each new day. Let the beauty of the fallen leaves fill your heart with the joy of memories, but let the hope of new spring leaves and life compel you forward. Life will be better when our upward momentum ends in rest with Christ.