Water Under the Bridge

Down here on the Gulf Coast it seems that every day I cross a bridge with lots of water and marshes or bayou below it. The other day while crossing another short one, an alligator was swimming parallel to me and I thought to myself how much I enjoy this area. Shortly after, a friend mentioned something aboutWater Under The Bridge and it all came together for me.

Let me first share the Wiktionary definition of Water Under The Bridge: Something in the past that cannot be controlled or undone, but must be accepted, forgiven or forgotten.

For any of us who have dealt with addiction or troubling circumstances in our past this is a very difficult thing to put behind us. Some cling to that past because there is nothing else worth moving ahead on. Some are stuck in that past and continue to live in it rather than in the reality of today. It is much easier to dwell on what used to be instead of what is.

Others feel so bad about what they did that they can not accept forgiveness or love from another human being, and constantly put themselves down for being worthless to society. I know all of these because I have felt at one time or another like that about myself. It seems like we are treading water and the alligators are catching up to us faster than we can tread!

There is of course an answer should we choose to accept the solution. A major barrier to that is how our parents, friends or spouses reacted toward us in the past by not offering us to accept, forgive or forget, and, though we can understand the hurt we may have inflicted upon them, we wonder if God will be like that as well.

Fear not, he isn't. He has accepted us by his actions on the cross by dying to forgive us. He has forgiven us as symbolized by his resurrection from the grave which signifies our redemption from the grips of sin. And, he has forgotten our sins because God is not here to remind us of how bad we are or have been, but instead shows us how good we can be. 

In Him we are truly a new creation, we just need to learn how to act like we are instead of falling into old patterns of behavior. Again I know because I have lived through over 30 years of a roller coaster ride of recovery. The only answer is to offer a complete surrender to Christ.

Then, we let the water of our past flow under that bridge and out to sea, gone forever............

That is the spiritual definition of Water Under The Bridge!