Do You Have Regrets?
An anonymous philosopher is known to have said, “If you live long enough, you will have regrets and the ones you regret the most are the ones where you knew you had a choice.”
John Whittier wrote a poem about regret. “Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, it might have been.” Do you have regrets? I guess most of us do.
On the lighter side, maybe you regret selling a car many years ago that today would be a highly sought after collector’s item. Maybe you regret not furthering your education and getting that advanced degree when you were younger. Or maybe you regret buying Google stock when it went public. Maybe you regret not growing spiritually. I can most definitely help you with that.
We can do something about some regrets. For still others, opportunity knocked while we were out in the backyard looking for a four-leaf clover and we missed out.
I heard about a man who never learned to ride a bicycle. He watched adults ride bicycles. He watched children having fun, riding their bicycles. He thought about riding a bicycle. He saw it had personal benefits, including exercise and the speed at which he could travel from one place to another. One day he almost bought a bicycle, and then changed his mind. But as an older man, he looked back and realized there is only one reason why he never learn to ride this two-wheeled wonder. He never tried.
Do you have any regrets? One of the ways, our archenemy handcuffs and stifles us is with words like, “Are you sure you are ready? Don’t you need more training? What if you try and fail?” He puts fear in our hearts and then later on we regret we lacked the courage to press on.
If God is leading you to pursue a new endeavor, is your next move to “get a bicycle and start pedaling?” On a sidenote, if you do literally get a bicycle, be careful with the dismount. A couple friends of mine learned the hard way, they are not a kid anymore.
For sure, don’t let God opportunities pass you by. Seize the moment. Take the plunge. If you need a spiritual cheerleader, think of me as the guy with the megaphone, shouting out encouragement.
You will never be ready enough to begin. You just have to make the next move and begin. That next step may be a baby step but it will be the important step to fulfilling a lifelong dream. Don’t live the rest of your life with the regret of what might have been.
