“You can’t change the past. But I daresay, you can learn from it.”

This is a line from “Through the Looking Glass,” a movie that I recently saw with my younger daughter, who has always been enamored by the imaginative, whimsical story of Alice in Wonderland. Much to my surprise, “Through the Looking Glass” portrayed some good morals, such as the importance of family and always telling the truth — but most of all, valuing time.

As Alice goes back in time, she tries to change events in the past to prevent detrimental things from happening in the future, but this causes a lot of confusion in the present. The lesson about not being able to change the past but learning from it was reinforced several times.

I thought about this paradigm in my life.

• Do I learn from my mistakes?
• Do I deliberately try to change things according to my will, or do I surrender to God to allow Him to do things in His timing?
• How do I learn from the past? Am I being introspective and allowing myself to spiritually grow from things that don’t go my way, or do I just wallow in the pity?

Since the movie is about going back in time, it includes other thought-provoking statements such as:

“With time, you give before you take.” This is a reminder to not take time for granted. View time as a gift. Use it wisely.

“Time is a villain and a thief.” Conversely, if I don’t use my time wisely, it can be a robber. Am I distracted by outside influences that deter me from devoting time to reading, meditating, praying, etc.?

When I think of scriptures about time, I think of Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

So, even as Alice tried to go back in time to change the past, she was unsuccessful. I cannot change what is past, but I must understand that to every time or season in our life, there is a purpose. I honor God when I value the time I’ve been given, surrender to His timing, and most of all learn from my past mistakes with the spirit of repentance that the Holy Spirit affords me.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.