I just finished through the 2011 season of How I Met Your Mother on Mom's Netflix account (in exchange for the password, I've corrupted her favorites with beauties such as Baseketball and rated everything I watch as 5 stars. Fair trade). Anyway, the last episode was the best one yet (and you can trust me on that because I never make blanket statements), mostly because it was centered around Barney's rule of "new is always better."
There are many exceptions to this rule, namely Notre Dame football teams, the Chicago Cubs, and lacrosse being the cool new sport, but in general it's pretty good. It's easy to get stuck in a rut and think that everything used to be better, but it's only because that part of our lives was figured out. It was easy. We know how things would have happened. We can always be perfect in hindsight.
But we'd also be accepting something that isn't our best.
I get made fun of for my overuse of "It's the best day ever," but I do think that it's something that should be taken seriously. After all, yesterday is a sunk cost. It still matters on the balance sheet, it can't be erased, but there's also nothing that you can do to change it, so there's nothing to do but take what you have and create the absolute best possible outcome, the best day that can be made.
Were there days that were absolutely amazing? Were there periods of our lives that we thought that everything was completely figured out? Were we kings of our worlds for brief periods of time? Yes, yes, and yes. But would we want to relive those days in a loop forever? I say no.
It's easy to look back and see what didn't work and wish that it did, but the truth is that it didn't, for whatever reason, and even if we revisit it every once in a while, we shouldn't have to re-enact it. What's through is through and what's done is done. Today in church our minister used the phrase, "from history to mystery," while describing the Easter story. I think that applies here too. History is done and the future is a mystery, but just because it's a mystery doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken on. There's a reason that things end. There are new beginnings waiting, and these new beginnings are always better.
