We are all looking for peace, right? When it comes down to it though, what keeps us from experiencing peace is either living in the past or living for the future. We bounce back and forth between obsessing over a past we can’t change and worrying about a future we can’t control. And the result? We miss what God has for us here and now.
Growing up as a Chinese American daughter of a mail-order bride and a busboy in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bonnie Gray never felt like she belonged. She spent her childhood hiding “Chinese Bonnie” who lived in a dysfunctional home in poverty in order to be accepted as cheerful “American Bonnie” who lived a life that looked like everybody else’s.
She tried to throw away pieces of her past—the ones she thought no one wanted—but in the process, she discovered God was tenderly gathering all the broken fragments to build a new story of faith and joy. She learned that it’s only when we learn to embrace the truth of our past that we can finally make sense of our present and celebrate what truly matters.
“I thought I had the parenting formula down.”
That was what my friend said as she described her kids’ behavior and attitudes.
For years, all their little bright faces, great attitudes, and constant successes were what she had always hoped for and then… what happened?
Is your family tree full of crooked or broken branches? Do you have some folks in your great grandparents’ or grandparents’ generation who aren’t so great or grand? If so, you are in good company.
Look where Jesus came from; it’s not so pretty. But, His history wasn’t a prophecy of where He was going.
