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Have you ever wished you could go back and get a do-over? Maybe a monumentally stupid thing you did that hurt people and affected your life. Maybe a time you did something you knew was wrong thinking it wasn't a big deal or that you could get away with it. Maybe just a time you made a decision at a fork in the road and then wondered how your life would be different if you'd gone down the other road.
Regrets, I've had a few . . . We've all got a few, I think. In Robert Frost's famous poem, he was apparently poking a bit of fun at his friend's habit of "regretting whatever path the pair took during their long walks in the countryside - an impulse that Frost equated with the romantic predisposition for 'crying over what might have been.'"⁽¹⁾ But as Frost observed in the poem, it's unlikely he'd return to that fork in the road to try the other path, and because we can't turn back time, we rarely get do-overs on our choices.
Jesus told a parable about a prodigal son who realized his monumentally stupid decision to take his dad's money and walk away from the family led to a series of further stupid decisions. I did it my way . . . and he had to admit he had lots of regrets. So he finally recognized how badly he'd jacked everything up and went back home knowing he wouldn't get a do-over.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'" ~Luke 15:21
The surprise was that the father welcomed him back and loved him as a son anyway. He did not get a do-over, and Jesus didn't tell us the rest of the story, but I wonder whether his regrets led to better choices and a changed life from that point on.
We are not worthy to be called children of God. Not on our own merit, anyway. God loves us because he IS love and because we are forgiven of all that makes us unworthy through the blood of Jesus. He makes us worthy!
Regrets are no good to us if all we do is sit there in the pigpen and wish we'd done something different. Regrets should lead us to repentance and to see how we can and should change going forward. We DO need to make some changes and live a life worthy of the grace we've received.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ~Colossians 1:9-14
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. ~II Thessalonians 1:11
You can't change the past. Accept, learn, forgive, and let God use the experience to change you for the better. No more regrets.
What changes do you need to make in order to live worthy of your calling?
For the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge, I've decided to explore the theme of living well and with purpose during times of change. A few years ago, as I neared the end of my years as a homeschool mom, I realized my world would change when my youngest graduated. My roles in the homeschool community and in my social circles were affected. Things changed in the workplace. Things are ever changing at church. And as my children grew up and the nest has begun to empty, family dynamics are changing. To our surprise, my husband's job ended at the very beginning of 2022, and that has brought another round of changes to consider! I know very well that writing about coping with change is not the same as having all the answers. I'll do my best to share what I'm learning and experiencing, and I'd love to hear from others in the comments.
This post is part of the Write 28 Days Blogging Challenge hosted by Anita Ojeda. Find all my posts for the 2022 challenge here: 28 Days of Coping With Change
⁽¹⁾ Orr, David. “You're Probably Misreading Robert Frost's Most Famous Poem.” Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Mar. 2019, https://lithub.com/youre-probably-misreading-robert-frosts-most-famous-poem/.
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