Hindsight

The view twelve months later is a good'un

Hindsight // ˈhʌɪn(d)sʌɪt
Noun: "understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed" 

This time last year, I'd just embarked upon a pretty challenging adventure leading a team in the middle of rural Rwanda (read all about it). So recently, I've been overdosing on memories, thinking through challenges, and receiving a whole lot of hindsight.

The more life unfolds, the keener I become on reflecting on it. I've remembered positives and negatives of my time in that little African country; the lasting vivid memories that'll stay with me forever, alongside fleeting soundbites that come and go depending on the circumstance. But each of these are coated in a retrospective view of experience that brings extra wisdom and reflection you can't ever grasp when in the moment. A year later, and hindsight is slowly translating into nostalgia, as I gain full understanding of what I learnt, and wish for all of its most positive parts to be relivable.

Often, I wonder how our knowledge of hindsight would impact on our current situation. If I'd known how much learning would come out of 10 weeks overseas - with all of its exhaustion, challenges, and cultural differences- I probably would've been a lot more upbeat and invigorated to make the most of my experience. But not once did I sit down and think how I'd feel about everything in a year's time.

The present so often fools us into thinking that things will never feel different; that we'll always feel negative about X, or emotional about Y. That we'll never change our ways; that we'll always slip up in the same places and forever hold onto emotions. It's only when hindsight comes in, that little bit later, that we realise the reality that we're growing, and learning, and developing as humans.

Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different… " – Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis

The Narnia Chronicles are still some of my favourite books, but Prince Caspian is pretty great because of the personal journey that so many of the characters go through. And at its heart is a really simple lesson that I keep having to re-remember as a Christian; that God (Aslan) is always there; always speaking; always guiding the way.

Hindsight often seems to be a beautiful thing; yet it's only there after something has happened. And that something, however gruesome, challenging or beautiful, is so often a battle that will cause us to grow. And as life keeps unfolding and weaving its way, it's so beautiful to remember the God that stands beside us as we travel.

Recently I've been doing a lot of walking round my hometown; the one that I've been slowly getting to know; the one I'd never anticipated living in. In this process I've stumbled across a glorious load of sunshine and some utterly stunning fields. Twelve months of climbing through life later, I never would've guessed that this would be the view. But it's a pretty exciting and riveting one. I'm sure hindsight will be ever valuable in the year ahead, and I'm certain that the God who journeys with me will be very present.