Have you ever seen a person you haven’t seen for many years and just immediately go back into the same roles and the same relationship as before? Let’s say you were the kid that was picked on in high school and later in life you crossed paths with the class bully that had treated you badly. Let’s say that there were failed marriages or relationships and you saw the person years later. Let’s say that you met someone who knew you before you changed. These examples could go on and on but you probably know what I am talking about.

I saw a person this past week that I haven’t seen in many years and we unconsciously reverted to the same roles we had all those years ago. I watched it happen in his eyes and I said a silent prayer. God, teach me by this encounter with this old friend. I watched this man who was very accomplished and had done well in life, instantly become the shy, introverted person he was in high school. No reason other than the memory of the past flooded over the reality of today.

Satan wants to keep us in our past. He wants to run the video player of our past and to keep us in that moment. It is because he cannot control the new and improved person you are.

I was in a business encounter lately with a person who was my superior at one time. I saw in his eyes that he still thought I was who I was and he is still who he was. I could tell by his conversation, he wanted to go back into that same role that we had together 20 years ago. He was shocked and a little stunned when I refused to automatically role play with him. See, I am not who I was then and neither are you. I decided in that meeting that I would force a new role play image on my old friend and covert the roles from what they were to how they will be now. It was actually funny watching the old friend come to grips with a different person than he remembered me being.

In your past there may be roles that you once played that you refuse to play any longer. Not for anyone. I would say, stand up straight, poke out your chest, take a deep breath, open your mouth and let whoever you encounter see and experience that you are not the same person as before.

Just because you were a certain way in high school or in your 20’s does not mean you have to be regulated for life to play that same role. KT