One thing my students ask me every now and then is, do you have any regrets about the things you did when you were young? They generally pipe up and say, "I don't...YOLO." To the uninformed, that means "you only live once." There aren't enough words to tell you how much I hate that acronym. But, I digress.
There are things I did that I wish I had done differently and things I wish I hadn't done at all. But, regret? Yes. Most people say they don't regret their past, I'm not sure I believe them. Whether we want to think so or not, meh.
I tell my students that there are consequences. There are consequences to good decisions and there are consequences to bad decisions. Things we do hurt or help. Sometimes, I wish I could go back. I've done things that were stupid. I've done things that hurt my husband and my kids. There's that pain that has to be dealt with. Here's the cool part though, WE CAN BE FORGIVEN!
It's so much easier for me to forgive other people than to forgive myself. But, as I'm learning, to not forgive ourselves hurts God. As I grew up, there were lots and lots of rules. There was not a lot of mercy or grace. This is what my parents knew. It was how they were raised and how their parents were raised. There was a lot of iron fist and not much in the way of soft hands. My Mama was definitely the comforter, the encourager. Daddy was not comfortable with that. He wasn't raised in a "touchy feely" family. He believed in good old fashioned discipline and good old fashioned family. Mama stayed home and took care of us and the house, he worked. I have a purpose for this ramble, hang in there with me! Don't confuse what I'm telling you with a "bad" home life. Deep down, I knew Daddy loved me. He just didn't say it much...or ever, lol.
Grace is unmerited favor. That means we get an "oops" for our stupidity even though we don't DESERVE it. Grace is the opposite of judgement. But, what is the first course most of us take? Judgement. To be continued!
"For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14
