I'll Get Around To It...

 

"The bitterest tears shed over a grave are of words left unsaid and deeds left undone." ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

My adult children every once in a while relay stories of their childhood that make me think "Was I even there?"  I'm pretty sure they made some of it up.  They ask me things about their childhood and I just shrug and say "Sorry, if it's not in the photo album I don't remember."

Of course as I see them raise their young families and do all these amazing things,  I think:

"If only I would have..."

"I wish I could have..."

"I meant to..."

But then I shake it off and remember how our parents used to let us roam the neighborhood all day, knowing we'd be home when it got dark, or we got hungry, and we all survived.  They also let us play on the metal 'spider web' on the playground (no net), ride our bikes (no helmets), or lay up in the back window of the car on road trips (no seatbelts).  As a grandma now, I remind myself that I did the best I could at the time with what I had.  And besides, they survived enough to make up the stories, right? And then I get back to my life.

But we all have regrets, don't we?  Sometimes the weight of them can smother us with guilt.  

As I heard about the 7.7 earthquake in Thailand this past week, my heart breaks for those people who were just going about their daily business, unsuspecting that their lives would end or be changed forever.  It occurred in a very populated region, so the amount of lives affected will be numerous.  

New York Times image

There have been so many reminders about how quickly life can change- and loved ones can leave us.  And sometimes their bodies are here but their minds are not.  

How do we live a life of no regrets?  I'm not sure that's possible.  It seems like if we have no regrets then we have nothing to learn, no room to get better or grow.  The dictionary says to have regret or sadness is to mourn, and Jesus said,

"Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." Matt 5:4

Let God comfort us with His rod and staff (Psalm 23:4)- ask Him to help us work through the pain, the sorrow, the regret- so we can go on and comfort others (2 Cor 1:3-4).  

When there's something we are regretting in life and we can do something about it, we should ask God for the strength to be able to bear it or just do it.  Either apologize, accept an apology, learn from it, forget it, or remember what we said we'd do and do it now.  Release the chain it has on us. 

We are a work in progress (Phil 1:6), being molded by The Potter (Isa 64:8), and a new creation  (2 Cor 5:17).  The Bible repeatedly speaks to our heart's condition (800-100 times, depending on the translation).  

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Prov 4:23

"Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right Spirit within me." Ps 51:10

We love the Lord, we want to become more like Him, and sanctification will take a lifetime.  But we don't know how long our lifetimes are, so let's not waste a minute letting others know how much they mean to us, how we value the relationship, how important we all are to God- so much that Jesus died for us & conquered death so we could live forever in heaven with Him. 

We don't want to say "I'll get around to it", we want to say "He helped me do it."

Dear Heavenly Father, we have heavy hearts today as we witness yet more sorrow and suffering wreaking its' horrific path through this earth.  We lift up the families affected by this event, and pray that it causes people to look to You as their Savior.  We pray that we sense the urgency to reach out to people in Your Name, that they may see You as the Great Comforter.  Amen.