The Regrets I would have. . .

            Today when I turned on Social Media I learned of the very sad death of someone that went to high school with me.  It’s not that I knew him well.   I honestly don’t think we ever had a conversation, but maybe we did.  It’s been a few years.  This young man was in a grade ahead of me, but our entire high school was only about 350 people.  While one didn’t know everybody in the school one probably knew of everybody.  In high school I remember he was quite the athlete.  We rode the same bus from school.  This young father and husband died while competing in a triathlon over the holiday weekend.  His death stunned me for a moment. He was 37.  It’s not that I do not realize we all will face that day in our lives.  It’s the whole circle of life thing.  But this man was young, at the height of physical fitness and from what I hear had a wife and two young children.  It is very sad.  Please pray for the family.  In the last few years to my knowledge there have been at least 3 deaths of people I knew from school.  In fact just before we left Florida another person I knew passed away.  He was in his early 30’s and was in a tragic car accident.  He too left behind a young son and fiancé.

            Perhaps it’s the idea that when you’re young you never think about the end of your days.  Then suddenly you wake up one day and realize that life is so dang short, and in this earth we all will face death unless Jesus returns first.  This young man’s death got me to thinking about my own life and any regrets I would have in it.  I know that God has a lot of plans for my life, I’m not checking out any time soon.  However I want to live my life to the fullest while I’m here.  As my church vision reads I want to:  experience love, experience community, and experience the good life to the fullest.  Most of you who have read my blogs for any length of time know that Dan and I go out of our way not to have regrets in life.  But like all of us I would have few.

1)      I would regret not seeing the plan and purpose of my life fulfilled, and the very least I have a fabulous husband and kiddos that still need me. . .plus everything else on my heart.

2)      I would regret that often in life I have taken things way to seriously.  There are times that while I’m quick to make a joke, I forget to laugh myself.

3)      I would regret that sometimes I am so quick to get from A-Z that in the middle there are moments that are precious.  Sometimes my own determination makes me miss precious moments.

4)      I would regret that sometimes I get distracted by the small things.

5)      I would regret a few moments in my life that I didn’t react in the manner of dignity and class that I should have. 

6)      I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I can’t say I really “regret” those because I believe any sin in my past has been washed in the blood of Jesus and isn’t there any longer.

I guess thinking about all of these things makes me realize how I can embrace the now more in my life.  It makes me reflect how I can stop and smell the roses a bit more…However in all that said, there are so many things I wouldn’t regret.  I’ve tried for a lot of years to live my life ready if it were to end tomorrow.  There is something on the inside of me that has always driven me to live like that.  Perhaps it’s the fact I should have died in a car accident when I was 2 ½ and I figure that I’m going to make the best out of the time I have on this earth. 

I honestly believe that too many people live their lives backwards.  It makes them bitter and mournful people.  They are always so hung up on their regrets that they forget that as believers they need to fix their eyes on Jesus. 

Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)

¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

            Life is just too short to fix your eyes on what is behind you.  There is too much to be done.  God put us all here for PURPOSE!  It’s not just about living and dying, but it’s about REALLY living for a higher calling and purpose.  It’s about coming to the fullness of what God has for you on this earth and sucking the marrow out of life!

James 4:14 (ESV)

¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

            So many people get to the end of their days with a mindset of all the things left undone and unsaid.  I’ve heard stories of people going to their graves carrying vendetta’s and still refusing to share a few precious moments with a loved one because of who hurt who and when. How tragic is it that some families live and die over feuds that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  I guess I want us all to remember that life is short, live without regrets, pray hard, and know that Heaven and Hell are eternal. While this lifetime will end, that one will not.  You are not promised tomorrow (Matt 6:34).  Make sure you are living in the knowledge of that fact.  Live without regrets. 

            God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited!