Nail It…and Press On

“Get over it!” I caught myself saying this phrase to my oldest Doodlebug as he complained over something very trivial…again. There is nothing wrong with this phrase, but there is a better one--one that I learned in college from my wonderful mentor couple. A phrase that helped me to let go of “past failures” and move on to the next thing without the excess baggage of self-condemnation, excessive frustration, increased worry, doubt, overly self-consciousness, etc. It dawned on me that I needed to teach my little ones to “Nail It…and Press On”.

In a nutshell, this phrase means that you emotionally “let go” of those things that have already happened and that you no longer have control over. For me, back in my college days, it meant letting go of my performance on a previous final exam so that I could mentally focus on passing the next, upcoming exam. It meant letting go of my feelings (or frustrations) over my performance in one track event so I could fully focus on the next event…and hopefully (prayerfully) perform better. It meant letting go of an argument or disagreement with a friend so that my whole day would not be consumed with thinking and rethinking the argument.

 Mainly, it meant not focusing on the negative, but choosing to focus on the positive and to keep moving forward.

Consider what Paul says in the following two passages:

“12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.”  Philippians 3: 12-15a

“8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Philippians 4:8-9

In both passages, we are encouraged to forget the things that are behind us or “Nail It” to the cross of Christ, keeping in mind that Jesus’ blood covers our shortcomings, mistakes, failures, sins, disappointments, etc. He can handle it all! Then we are encouraged to “Press On”—keep striving for the goal Jesus has set before us. In order to do this, we must take every thought captive, and think about things that are lovely, pure, true, and worthy of praise.

So Mom, will you join me in surrendering your past, your yesterday, your few minutes ago to the Lord, and embrace His plan for you at this moment? Take your thoughts captive, forget the things that are behind that you no longer have control over, and live in the grace and mercy and the second chance that our Father so freely gives right now. Let’s “Nail It…and Press On!”

Prayer:

God, you love us with an everlasting love. You never desired for us to get caught up in our mistakes, our frustrations, our disappointments. You want us to come boldly before your throne of grace and lay all of our cares at your feet. May we do so. May we let go of those things that we can no longer control, and trust that you are in control. May we fix our eyes on you and not our circumstances. May we choose to not continually think about the things that went wrong, but the things that went right. May we walk in your grace, love, and peace each and every moment of every day. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.