What's past is prologue....

If you hang around church much, you hear about how your past doesn't really matter. That Jesus creates you new, and the old life is gone.

I agree- to a point. Jesus can make us new. Religion changes us. Hopefully, changes us to the point where we do indeed leave our old life for new.

But however, I don't necessarilly jump on the band wagon of "The old is gone. Your past doesn't matter."

No matter what changes you've undergone or experienced, you can't erase the past. You are stuck with it. It is what brought you to this point. Your old life, is history, but still remains your history.

I agree with Shakespeare- "What's past is prologue". I think our past is what makes us who we are in the present. I think that no matter how much we may want to buy into the idea that the past doesn't matter- it does. It's what makes us who we are. We are a culmination of our experiences, our mistakes, our triumphs, our joys, our lessons. And no matter how far we run, our past remains with us.

Possible, more than remaining with us, our past sets us up for the future. It prepares us for what we might next experience, what we might next encounter. The next turn our life might take.

As important as new starts our, remember the past is important too. Instead of resenting what has been, find joy in it. Even if it is awful, it brought you to here. And you have the choice to resent what you are, or rejoice that you aren't what you were, and can change. So what's past is past. But what's past is also prologue, a new chance for a new beginning....