The Lord has been teaching me a very important, and tough to swallow lesson this morning. I had a few dreams last night that I was glad to wake up from but was disturbed and annoyed and honestly frustrated by. So as I began to process them with the help of the Lord, I was much less annoyed and frustrated and much more understanding and open.
Basically, the dreams I had were of things or people that I truly miss from my past being placed suddenly into my here and now.. as if they were never gone. I was excited to re-invite these things/people into my life, but it quickly became very chaotic. In many cases, it was completely messing things up for the worst in the present. I guess through it all, I'm just learning that there's a reason for all of these memories- good and bad, and there is a reason why some are left in the past (even the good ones!) I've always desired good memories to be back in my life, but if I truly received that desire, the plans the Lord has for us RIGHT NOW would be put in complete chaos.
Again, I am learning that living in the present day is the only way to live. Remembering the past and dreaming of the future, but not allowing either of them to take away from the here and now. Because the here and now, my present day adventures, are my steps into the future dreams and the memories of tomorrow.

Some quotes:

"When your memories become greater than your dreams, you know you've begun to die."
-Anonymous

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."
-Marcel Pagnol

"When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened."
-John M. Richardson Jr.

"If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future."
-Winston Churchill

"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the moment of time over which you have any control: now."
Denis Waitley