March 3rd, 2009
When I was younger I never really thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I talked A LOT. I didn’t listen well and although I was a smart girl, common sense was not one of my strong points.
I hear people say things like ” I have no regrets because everything I have done in my life made me who I am today”
I can understand that perspective but I see things a little differently. I do have regrets. Like a about a crap TON of them.
I want to believe that everything happens for a reason, even as cliche as it sounds. I just get confused when I really start unpacking that idea in my head.
I believe in God’s plan wholeheartedly but God also gave us free will to make the wrong decisions. And we mess up. We make the wrong choices. Some of us make more mistakes than others but we all screw something up eventually. And it does make an impact on who we become.
So should we regret those things? Or should we just think of our mistakes as the paving stones that make up the road of life?
I don’t know the answer. Do you?
Filed under life | Comments (10)
I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to that question (at least right now). Mostly because my answer won’t apply to you and vice-versa. You’re right, you know. God gave us free will, but he also gives us grace and forgiveness, so why is it so hard for us to give that to ourselves as well?
I’ve definitely done my fair share of screwing up and I have to constantly remind myself that I am forgiven by grace and I just need to get over it.
I’m feeling ya this morning, Sister!
Both . . . we all do regrettable things, but those are the things we REALLY learn from. If you had no regret, then what have you learned from the experience?
You just deal with it and move on . . . and yes, those screw ups help make us who we were yesterday, who we are today, and who we will be tomorrow.
I like to think I have this one all figured out. Putting what I know into practice is the hardest part. I know you are asking rhetorically if anyone has the answer – but that’s seriously what my book is about. (I can’t wait until it’s finished and I can stop saying that I’m writing a book; I can say it’s on the Top 40 shelf at Borders and Barnes and Noble!) You are asking the right question. That question – and the related questions – are absolutely the whole point of this thing we call life. I love that you let yourself ask the big questions and then you get back to loving on your beautiful family, and then come back to the big questions again. And of course I love that you are you and say things the way a real friend would over a coffee or casual phone call. It makes you feel closer to me (and to all of your adoring fans)!
Our pastor did a message on sin once. The key verse was (okay, so I don’t remember the exact location) “Where sin did abound, there did grace much more abound.” If our mistakes are actually sin (and I don’t believe all are), there are still natural consequences to that sin. BUT God can take any situation or consequence and fill it so full of grace that it turns into a blessing.
I try very hard not to regret past sinful mistakes. Instead, I try to look for the good that God brought out of it. But sometimes my own attitude hasn’t let God work the way he could have in the situation. I’m closing in on 40 and I’m starting to learn those lessons . . . . hopefully not making things so hard on God – lol.
OH, and I always ask forgiveness. I forgot that part – lol.
Huh! I think that mistakes are paving stones. You cannot grow as a person if you don’t learn from your mistakes. But I like to stick my head in the sand about some of mine and that gets me by too, lol!
That is a very tough question. There is NO doubt in my mind that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. God opened doors that I thought would NEVER be opened for me.
I do have a few regrets, but there’s nothing I can do about them now. I guess they are just stones in the pavement of life!
I think we should regret them, but not dwell on them. If we never regretted the things we shouldn’t have done, we’d never learn from our mistakes.
Perhaps we should regret that our “wrong” decisions have adverse effects on others, but then again – if their lives weren’t touched by us then who would they be…..Ooooo – the insanity!
Our mistakes make us turn to God…..do you think that is coincidental???? 3