Your Past Doesn’t Have to Pave Your Future

Growing up, I heard Dolly say this many times. And when you look at her life, you realize she wasn't just saying something that sounded good—she lived it.

Dolly came from very humble beginnings. She grew up in a large family in the mountains of Tennessee, with very little materially. The road she was born onto wasn't necessarily an easy one, and it certainly wasn't a road that guaranteed her the future she would eventually have.

But she didn't allow the road she started on to dictate where she would end up.

She dreamed. She worked. She persevered. She made choices that moved her forward. She walked a different path, paved her own way, and created a future that looked very different from the circumstances she came from.

I think there's a lesson in that for all of us.

Sometimes we find ourselves walking a road we didn't choose. Maybe it's because of decisions we made in the past. Maybe it's because of decisions someone else made that affected us. Maybe life simply handed us circumstances we never expected.

And sometimes we stay on that road because it's familiar.

We complain about where it leads, but we're afraid to change direction.

We know we're unhappy, but we don't know what the next road looks like. We know something needs to change, but we're comfortable enough with the familiar that taking the first step toward something different feels scary.

But here's the thing: you don't have to stay on a road simply because you've been walking it for a long time.

Sometimes you have to stop, look at where you're headed, and decide that it's time to pave another road.

That doesn't mean you can change everything overnight. It doesn't mean every new road will be easy. And it certainly doesn't mean there won't be obstacles along the way.

But it does mean that your current circumstances don't have to determine your future.

You can make a different choice.

You can learn something new.

You can let go of what is holding you back.

You can change your priorities.

You can establish healthier boundaries.

You can pursue a dream you've put on the shelf.

You can start over.

You can take one small step in a different direction.

Sometimes paving a new road doesn't look like some huge, dramatic life change. Sometimes it looks like simply making a different decision today than you made yesterday.

One step becomes another step. One choice leads to another choice. And before long, you may look back and realize you've traveled much farther than you ever imagined.

I've learned that life doesn't always turn out the way we thought it would. There are seasons we wouldn't have chosen for ourselves and roads we never expected to travel.

But I've also learned that we don't have to let those seasons define the rest of our story.

We can pave another road.

And for those of us who follow Christ, we don't have to figure out that road by ourselves. We can ask God for wisdom, trust Him with our future, and allow Him to direct our steps.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Maybe the road you're on right now isn't where you want to stay.

Maybe it's time to stop looking at the road behind you and start looking at the road ahead.

Maybe it's time to pick up the tools, gather your courage, trust God, and start paving.

Because the road you're walking today doesn't have to be the road you walk forever.

If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one.

Your next chapter may be waiting on the other side of a decision to take a different path.