February 24, 2026
It was a common saying once whose meaning everyone understood. It was as common as Curiosity killed the cat and a penny saved is a penny earned. It was Remember Lot’s Wife.
The story of Lot’s wife is early in Genesis when God decides Sodom and Gomorrah have to go but the only righteous people there, Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family, will be allowed to escape. But they are admonished, ‘Don’t look back.” As Lot and his family are heading for the hills to avoid the fire and brimstone Lot’s wife looks back and is transformed into a pillar of salt. Remember Lot’s Wife. Don’t look back. Is it a reminder that the past is the past and it cannot be changed. A reminder also that in the American context there is no going back to England or Ireland or Scotland or Norway or Sweden or Finland or Germany or Africa, et cetera.
General Roosevelt taken hopelessly off course by the tides on D-Day ended up over a mile from where he was supposed to land. His officers gathered around him in consternation and Roosevelt famously said, “Gentleman, the war starts here.” We cannot go back in time and change things. What happened, happened. The now calls for our attention now.
Let Us Pray: Father in Heaven, help us to not be trapped by the sin or fiction of the past. Help us give this day our best and help us work for a better tomorrow. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.