Pilgrim Soldier

A few weeks ago now we were privileged to have General Eva Burrows stop in at the officer as she was passing through Riga while on holiday. It was while she was leader of The Salvation Army that the push back into Eastern Europe was made, but today was the first time she had been to Riga, and I think it meant quite a lot to her.

She said something that was of real interest to me. I can’t remember the exact words but it was along the lines of “today you are living in the past of tomorrow’s future!” This was said within the context of her talking a little about her memories of meeting some of the people who had kept the Army alive during the Soviet occupation of Latvia. It was clear that she felt that it was very important for us to remember our past as we move forward into our future, but also to remember that the things we do now will have an effect on the future of God’s Kingdom here in Latvia.

Sometimes it feels that we are too quick to turn away from the past and want to move forward into the future. It almost feels as if we feel that there is nothing of value in what has gone before. At other times its possible to get so caught up with history that we fail to move forward at all.

For me, what came out of that short phrase the General said is that we need to find the balance. We need to know that today we are building the future for those who follow us and acknowledge those in the past who have laid the ground for where we are today.