Have you ever pursued a rabbit trail only to later regret it? You know, followed a long winding path that in the end made no sense and was a complete waste of time?

In Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, the young Alice experiences a series of wild and amazing adventures when she accidentally falls down a rabbit hole. It was a confusing place full of mad characters but yet not without a certain fascination.

Alice grew up. She never went back to Wonderland and instead went on with her life, remembering the important lessons from her nightmarish past adventure:

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”

“If you drink much from a bottle marked ‘poison’ it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.”

“If you don’t know where you are going, then it doesn’t matter which way you go; every road will take you there.”

I wonder how much we are like Alice in being fascinated with mad adventures that keep us from the great adventures God intends for us and take us instead down maddening rabbit paths that lead us nowhere. I wonder how often are we drawn by the elixir of past bad thinking, knowing that it is like poison to us, but not finding courage to put it down. I wonder how often we give in to putting on our old self when we know quite well that our new self is what helps us experience God’s best.

Alice didn’t go back to Wonderland. Neither should we. Forgetting what is past, live today with your eyes fully fixed on the prize that you seek, that which will always be worthy of your life adventure.

“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