When Cortes arrived in the new world he had many people that were in doubt or fear of what was ahead. So he decided to have his ships burned and sunk. This decision gave his men no choice but to focus on the mission and the new conquest. When I think of this choice, I also think of the real symbol of the ship. The ship gave people a way to escape fear, a refuge if the challenge ahead was overwhelming, and an option to go back to their old way of life. 

Many of us may approach life like this on a daily basis and I have been just as guilty. We are sitting on the shoreline, living in the past, wanting to believe there are great things ahead, or a new possibility on the horizon. However we may allow a personal fear, guilt, or the safe refuge in our comfort zone to hold us back. A few things that I have learned in these moments are:

•  Fear is a Liar… Fear tries to trap your mind and make you believe something you are not. The truth is found in your real identity. 
• We have been forgiven for a reason. God knows us and our hearts. He wants us to move forward for his purposes. 
• There is no growth in our comfort zone and our full potential is not found in it.

We have a new day ahead of us and a new world of opportunity. As long as we stay on the shoreline and keep going back, we will never truly go forward. The ship acts as a safety net for us to go back to an old way of living. By staying in our comfort, mistakes, pity, or letting guilt keep us from moving forward. Your past and present does not need to paralyze you or lie to you about your real potential.  Truth be told, once we start taking steps in a great direction, we do not want to go back to an old way of living. Realize that Victory has already been won and we just need to take steps toward our God given purpose.  Understand that we may not be where we want to be, but thank God we are not were we used to be. Give God credit for Victory in advance because it is coming. I have learned a lot in each stage of life, I have learned in both joyful and tough moments. However, I have to keep moving to the next stage for growth and to reach my full potential. I encourage you to look as the past as a Victory and to move forward on the path. If it was a tough time, then it is a Victory that God’s blessings got you through it and won with you. If it was joyful times, then it was still a Victory in God’s blessings. Your past, whether good or bad does not define you, your identity is found in the real truth and the life God has ahead for you. Staying in an old way of life and hanging on to the past doesn’t help any of us impact for God’s purpose. I have to burn the ships daily, get off the shoreline, and keep taking steps toward the ultimate goal. 

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, 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 3:12-14