Yesterday's Trophies
Every family has a holiday that is the most important holiday in that family. It’s not that other holidays are unimportant. It’s simply that through a curious amalgamation of history, custom and experience, every family acquires its own hierarchy of events and values. The most important holiday in the Robinson family is Thanksgiving. My mother, brothers, and nieces and nephews all live in different states. Thanksgiving is the one holiday we all gather each year at my mothers’ home. Since I have to travel the farthest, I usually arrive a few days early to spend time with my mother, look through old photographs and yearbooks, and the perform the dozens of other tasks and activities that you can only do in the place and around the people where you grew up.
Earlier this week I was rummaging through my Mom’s garage and came across several boxes of memorabilia: trophies, certificates and newspaper clippings. Growing up, my brothers and I played several sports, and participated in many civic affairs, student clubs, and religious groups. In retrospect, my parents definitely subscribed to the philosophy that an “idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.” Part of the reason we didn’t get in much trouble growing up is because we didn’t have any time to get in trouble. My parents kept us busy. All of the memorabilia in those boxes were proof of that philosophy. The trophies made me especially proud.
However, they also reminded me of a line in the poem “The Road Ahead and The Road Behind” by George Joseph Moriarty. Halfway through the poem, Moriarty says “the shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.” Whether the trophies are on our shelves or in boxes, the fact is that they point to previous victories in a previous season.
There is no drug more potent than nostalgia, which according to one definition is “a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.” But we must always remember that yesterday’s trophies can never win tomorrow’s game. In fact, yesterday’s trophies can’t even win today’s game. Neither can yesterday’s trophies substitute for today’s failures. Life goes on. Whatever victories we won yesterday are over. They must be celebrated. They must be investigated to extract principles that can used in new battles. And they should be remembered. But they cannot and should not be relived. Nor should they be used as an excuse to constantly celebrate the past or to live with arrogance in the present.
This was one of the lessons that God was trying to teach the children of Israel during their 40 year sojourn through the wilderness. Shortly after they experienced the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, the children of Israel arrived in the wilderness and were immediately confronted with a plethora of challenges. Chief among these challenges was the lack of food. Nothing grows in the wilderness—and the Israelites complained to Moses who then complained to God, who solved the problem by providing them with a type of food called Manna—which means “we don’t know what it is. The episode is reported in Exodus 16:15-21:
The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was. And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat. These are the Lord’s instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.” So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed. Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.” But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.
What I find fascinating about this episode is Moses’ instruction that the manna not be kept overnight. If they tried to eat yesterday’s bread, it was “full of maggots and had a terrible smell.” And whether it’s yesterday’s manna, yesterday’s trophies, yesterday’s vision, yesterday’s strategies, yesterday’s team, yesterday’s salary, yesterday’s figure, yesterday’s relationships, or yesterday’s testimony, they will all eventually be “full of maggots and have a terrible smell.”
Yesterday’s trophies can’t win tomorrow’s game.
Yesterday’s vision can’t prepare for tomorrow’s future.
Yesterday’s strategies can’t ensure tomorrow’s success.
Yesterday’s team can’t face tomorrow’s challenge.
Yesterday’s salary can’t pay tomorrow’s bills.
Yesterday’s figure can’t fit tomorrow’s clothes
Yesterday’s relationships’ can’t guarantee tomorrow’s happiness.
And yesterday’s testimony can’t defeat tomorrow’s temptation.
Enjoy your yesterdays.
Study them. Learn from them. And Thank God for them.
Then forget them.