Seeing Through the Windshield, Not the Rearview Mirror

Things usually are designed as they are for a specific reason. “Form follows function,” the architectural and industrial design adage declares. The function or purpose of a chair is to support people sitting on it. After that, the furniture designer can decide what form the chair should take. The function of a car is to transport riders from one place to another. Once that purpose is achieved, automotive designers can figure out how to visually impress potential buyers. 

 

Form follows function. This principle came to mind while reading an entry in pastor and author Tony Evans’s Kingdom Man devotional book. He observed, “Do you know why a car’s windshield is bigger than its rearview mirror? Because where you are going is more important than where you’ve been.”

 

Simple wisdom, but profound. Unless you’re backing out of your garage or driveway, trying to steer your car while staring into the rearview mirror would be utter foolishness. Not to mention extremely dangerous, especially if you’re on the highway. Keep looking ahead! And yet, persisting to hold a rearview perspective is how many people are living their lives.

 

These folks let memories and regrets from the past dominate their days, coloring their present and shaping their future. I regard it as the “woulda, coulda, shoulda syndrome.” “If I would have done that, then this wouldn’t have happened.” “I could have chosen to do that; then I wouldn’t be where I am now.” “I should have decided to do (whatever) instead of what I did – then everything would have been different.”

 

Understandably, there’s not one of us who if given the opportunity wouldn’t change some key events or decisions in our past. The person who says, “I wouldn’t change a single thing about my life,” is either in denial or unrealistic. We all have regrets to some extent. But the simple fact is we can’t change the past. Time machines don’t exist, and even if they did, changing even a slight detail might have catastrophic consequences. Science-fiction writers call it “the butterfly effect.”

 

The best we can do is learn from the past and strive to do better in the present and time yet to come. In sports they say to be successful, a baseball pitcher or quarterback in football must have a short memory. They can’t dwell on the pitch just thrown that went over the fence for a home run, or the pass that was intercepted during the last drive. They must ignore the mistake and move on to the next pitch or play.

 

Pastor Evans added this comment: “I’m not saying yesterday is a bad conversation topic, but you don’t want to get stuck there. Yesterday’s victories will not carry you through today. Yesterday’s defeats should not dominate tomorrow.”

 

I think this is why the Bible has such forward-thinking focus. Even in Genesis, the Bible’s first book, there are many references to forthcoming events, biblical “types” that foreshadow God’s actions in the future. The Old Testament includes a series of prophetic books. And the last book of the Bible, Revelation, is filled with prophesies yet to come.

 

The apostle Paul was a man whose life could have been ruined by “rear view mirror living.” A zealous Pharisee and acclaimed religious leader, he had eagerly persecuted early Christians, even gladly spectating at the stoning of the apostle Stephen. After his dramatic Damascus Road conversion, Paul never forgot what he had done, always marveling at the incredible forgiveness, grace and mercy of God. 

 

However, rather than dwelling on his past, he was able to write, “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

 

Apparently somewhat of a sports fan, he often used athletic metaphors. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize…. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

 

While the apostle does not comment specifically on looking backward, he certainly understood that winning racers can’t be concentrating on portions of the course they’ve already passed. In a similar way, to live in a way that honors God we must learn to let go of the past – its failures and pain, as well as its successes and joys – as we pursue what the Lord has for us now and the days to come.

If anyone has a clear view of the past, it’s God. Still, He gives us this promise: “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). He can take our past, even in wrecked form, and make it functional for a glorious future. 

Where Does Creativity Come From?

When thinking about creativity, Walt Disney World presents a
fascinating blend of the natural and the manmade.

Have you ever entered a building, new or old, and marveled with amazement at the innovative design, or gone into someone’s exquisitely decorated home, and thought, “Where did they get these ideas?” Or maybe a book consumed your attention from beginning to end – whether a novel with totally unexpected plot twists or a non-fiction work thoroughly researched and engagingly written – prompting you to ponder, “How does somebody write like that?”

We see countless other examples – movies, TV shows, photographs, musical productions and songs, paintings and sculptures, cartoons and graffiti – so original, rather than retreads of time-worn ideas, we can’t help feeling captivated and wishing for more.

The ceiling of the China exhibit at Disney World's
Epcot center offers visitors a captivating
array of colors and designs.

Having spent my entire career in the creative arts – writing, photography, and dabbling a bit in graphic design – I’ve often wondered about creativity. From whence cometh the ideas? Often I’m not even certain about the origin of my own. When I started this blog, for example, I listed half a dozen ideas for posts before starting. I didn’t want to run out of material and cease posting after a week or two. But I’ve been blogging for several years and there still seems no shortage of ideas. (Of course you, the reader, might think differently!)

Sometimes when I see one of Hollywood’s latest films or try reading a science-fiction novel, I have suspicions the ideas might be byproducts of people smoking funny-smelling cigarettes or drinking too much alcohol with worms at the bottom. But for the most part, I think creative inspiration flows out of everyday life and experience.

A fundamental principle of architecture states “form follows function.” Once a means for fulfilling the specific function is determined, creativity allows the designer to manipulate form to achieve surprising and often striking aesthetic effects. I think this holds true for other pursuits as well.

Settings like this surrounding
Cinderella's castle transports
the viewer to a different
time and place.

Writers understand you can’t write about what you don’t know or haven’t experienced. So we either do extensive research, learning about the subject and thereby equipping ourselves to write about it, or we stick to topics we’re familiar with. That’s why you’ll never see me writing about hang-gliding, skydiving or competing in a triathlon – unless it’s from a spectator’s perspective. I want to know whereof I write, but there are places I won’t go to gain the necessary “whereof”!

Ultimately, however, I believe creativity has an even more profound source. The Bible opens by declaring, “In the beginning God created….” Later the triune God announces, “Let us make man in our image…. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (Genesis 1:26-27).

This has nothing to do with physical appearance, such as limbs, fingers and toes, but rather His character and attributes. We often hear it said, “God is love,” but He’s also many other things – creative being one of them.

For me, the incredible, infinite variety we can observe in nature reveals God’s boundless creativity. Snails, the praying mantis, platypus, porcupine, giraffe, hummingbirds, broadleaf trees and conifers, roses and daisies, gentle streams and gaping canyons, soaring mountains and sprawling deserts, serene lakes and pounding oceans. All to me express the imagination of our Creator God.

And to think we can share – be partakers – in His wondrous attribute of creativity, utilizing tools like words, paint, notes and scales, fabric, steel, plaster and wood, brass and porcelain, cameras, sculpting tools, pencils and pens, musical instruments and vocal cords to create and design things suited for all tastes and preferences.

That’s pretty cool if you ask me!