Regret
1. to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.): He no sooner spoke than he regretted it.
2. to think of with a sense of loss: to regret one's vanished youth.
noun
3. a sense of loss, disappointment, dissatisfaction, etc.
4. a feeling of sorrow or remorse for a fault, act, loss, disappointment, etc.
I remember sitting on the lawn on Central Campus staring at the Campanile at Iowa State University talking with a very close friend about what our lives would look like in 30 years.
"Do you think you will have any regrets?" he asked already knowing what my bold bullheaded answer would be.
"Hell no! I don't believe in regrets!"
was my bold bullheaded answer.
If you have read my first blog, I hope I have appealed to your appetite, just a bit, for a taste of the flavor of my flow.
"Who is this person?" I hope you ask, "And what is she hiding?"
Not a thing, I am an open book, and that has from time to time got me in a bit of a jam, strawberry if you please and I prefer Welch's!
I am a woman of high moral principles, well, depending on who you ask.
Now if you ask my children who I consider to be some of my closest friends, they might differ with you ever so slightly.
They would tell you I was the BEST, no I mean the
BEST mom
ever created by the good Lord for the first 26 years of my motherhood but then.......
and that's where they would stop.
I love my children with all my heart and will never say a bad word about them. And they have good reasons to feel slighted, because contrary to my own opinion I am not perfect and have made some really big mistakes.
But let me pose this question, if someone is the BEST for that long in your life, is it right for you to turn away from them ever?
No, I'm not asking my children, I'm asking YOU.
Because I have discovered that too many people are willing to pull up anchor and strand very decent folk on deserted islands for any reason or season that comes along! Yes, I'm talking the minor and the disastrous from insult to injury and disdain to divorce.
Poppycock!
So am I saying we should all remain faithful to people through all of life's misery and misfortune? Huh?
Well..... yeah. That's exactly what I am saying.
And just how do I propose you do that?
God says
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."
I'm not claiming to be God, so maybe I don't get both of those right all the time, leave nor forsake, but I do try to get one or the other!
Something, well let's just call it grace,
caught hold of me a long time ago and lit something inside me that can't be explained by anything but,
well let's call it grace.
See, I recently took a tumble down the hill fetching an eyedropper full of water to quench a Sahari Desert thirst. And what I found out is, if you have that rare person in your life that
will knock the door down when you aren't answering it....
or when you have moved, they will find you...
or they know just when to call to comfort you after you have told them never call again....
or they are the BEST until they become the ordinary.....
Too many people these days take the attitude that "I don't need people in my life that bring me down and drain my energy." Hey, I need more people in my life no matter what they are draining! I have holes in my bucket remember, and if I convince them to stand nearby and pour water back in, that's a beautiful thing.
I am so thankful that Jesus didn't view the world as a bunch of energy drainers. Can you imagine? "Hey, he needs to stand up and walk over here if he wants healed. It's too much energy!" or "I'm so sick of all these sick people whining all the time. It takes so much effort to listen to them." Had Jesus plugged the holes in that way, what would the world look like today.
Even if you are not a Christian, if the story of Jesus life, death and resurection did not exist, what would the world look like today? Hmmm.... Just imagine.
So to all you little Mamas out there who have been banished by your children, to all you children that have been disowned by your parents, all you cheating and cheated on spouses, all you out of the closets, all you who can't find your peace and can't share your joy......I say hold on. There is hope for you to grasp on to and claim as yours. And if you want to know more about that hope just leave me a post or drop me an email. I will be happy to share, and I don't give up on anyone, not even you.
What I won't share is a list of my regrets. I never wanted to have any regrets. Believe it or not, I refuse to regret one choice in my life even is I hate the consequences that came with those choices. One key to keeping my holey bucket full is to NOT dump any water out on purpose by framing my life as a series of mistakes or missteps. Gravity may make the water drain out on it's own, so be it.
God fills my bucket back up every moment of every day.
Who could regret that!
Not me.
So in essence, this blog is a form of Cyber pleading if you will?
Can I get a plink or a plank for this web performer, or do I need to keep trying? Ok, you come back real soon and I'll try again, next time without a net.
God bless and be blessed
I wrote this little ditty long ago and as I stand, after being knocked down repeatedly over the last 3 years, I can tell you that people will fail you and time will not flatter you, but God will always, always and always again love you so feel the drain any more. Be filled and be full.
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