The Do Over...

Came across something in my quiet time that really spoke to me. You know we spend part of our lives just thinking well "I should have done this" or "I should have done that". Wanted to share this with you:

Ever wish you could start over? Probably all of us have longed for another chance in some area of our lives.  We wouldn't necessarily have done things differently, just more or perhaps less...The truth is we can't go back, only forward into uncharted territory.  To sit in our sorrow would lead to misery.  Although regret that leads to change is a dear friend, regret that leads to shame is a treacherous enemy.

So how do we live without allowing regret to rob us of our joy? How about this insight to prompt us on: "And lean not on your own understanding" (Pr 3:5)...There is no guarantee that if we have done a part of our lives differently things would end up any different.  We have to trust that God of the universe who directs the outcome of all things that he will do that which ultimately needs to be done (in spite of us, if necessary).

WOW! Are we letting regret rob us of joy? Are we letting the woulda, shoulda, coulda's take away our happiness.  What if we just say "God, I don't understand this, I don't know why, but I know you are in control...I don't know the outcome but you knew the beginning just as you know the end". Can we change our way of thinking to "God, what would you have me do?" "God, please direct my steps!" . Have we ever wanted something so bad and not receive it right then. Only, to later receive what we wanted all along? Is God waiting for us to "grow up"? Is we waiting until we can "handle it"? We may never know. What we do know is that if we have Christ in our lives and know that he is in control we have nothing to worry about. Our answers may not come when we want them to come. They may not come in the form we want them to come. But as long as we pray for wisdom and understanding we have to know that God's answer will come...in his time...and in his way! TRUST!

It is easy to get our priorities out of alignment. It is for me for sure! So many goals vie for our attention: professional success, domestic happiness, financial security, good health, intimacy with God. I always think I have them in the right order...only to realize I fall short all the time...my priorities aren't exactly balanced all the time!  This is where we should seek wisdom from God. Without wisdom ..we waste our lives focusing on the wrong things. Wisdom enables us to know the difference between  what gives life and what leads to death.

In 1926, Reinhold Niebuhr first invoked the famous prayer; "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."


I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet I know the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.

-Emily Dickinson